Thousands of home sellers discount prices as they re-enter the market

Landlords looking to invest in a property opportunity might want to check out the homes that have come back to the market after failing to sell in 2023.

That’s according to Yopa, the national estate agency, which says these homes offer the best value for money and the most opportunities for negotiation.

It has collected data on 2,019 homes across Britain that have returned to the market this year and compared their prices to the average price of homes that stayed on the market.

The results show that buyers can expect to pay 2.3% less for a returning home, which translates to a saving of -£8,486 on average.

‘Lots of motivated sellers entering the market’

Yopa’s chief executive, Verona Frankish, said: “There will have been lots of motivated sellers entering the market towards the back end of 2023, sellers who would have been hopeful of securing a sale before the Christmas break as market conditions started to improve.

“However, not all of them will have managed to do so and whether it was due to a transaction collapsing, or simply to reset ahead of the January rush, many will have decided to pull their property listing and re-enter the market come the new year.”

She adds: “Now that 2024 is upon us, these sellers will be hoping to take advantage of strengthening market conditions and an uplift in buyer activity, but having already listed their home for sale once, many are likely to be offering a discount on their asking price in order to entice buyers to make an offer.”

Biggest savings are in Scotland

Yopa says the biggest savings are in Scotland, where returning homes are 4% cheaper than the regional average, or -£8,010 less, with London is close behind, with a 3.9% discount.

They are followed by the East Midlands (3.7%), South West (2.7%) and North East (2%).

The most returning homes are in the South East, which has 21% of the total, followed by London and the East of England, each with 13%.

The North West has 9%, the East Midlands and West Midlands have 8% each, and Yorkshire and Humber has 7%.

Most common reason is fall-throughs

The agency also explains why homes return to the market and the most common reason is fall-throughs, which is when a sale collapses before completion such as buyers pulling out or lenders withdrawing mortgages.

When a fall-through occurs, the seller may decide to take the home off the market for a while and then relist it in the new year, hoping to attract new buyers.

However, this also means that the seller may be more willing to accept a lower offer, just to get the deal done.

Yopa advises buyers to look out for homes that have been on the market for a long time, or have had multiple price reductions, as these are signs of a returning home.

If you would like to discuss quickly selling your rental property with experts, contact Landlord Sales Agency:

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