"Home sellers are a savvy bunch and so it’s no surprise that following a sustained period of slower house price growth, we’ve seen an uplift in the number of homes reaching the market specifically in search of a quick sale"
Last week, the latest house price data from the Land Registry revealed that the average house price across England fell by -0.2% between October and November, as a previously cooling market finally buckled with the first decline in house prices since October 2021.
However, prior to this first monthly drop, the rate of positive monthly house price growth had also been cooling since August of last and this had spurred an increase in the number of sellers looking to sell quickly before the market starts to tank.
The analysis from House Buyer Bureau shows that currently there are almost 2,000 homes listed for sale across England with the seller specifically stating they are looking to sell quickly. This marks a 12% increase in quick sale stock when compared to June of last year when the market was flying high.
The regions with the largest increase in quick sale stock are the South West (59.8%), the East Midlands (59.6%) and the West Midlands (58.3%), all with an increase of almost 60% versus June of last year.
Those looking to sell quickly are always likely to lower their price in order to entice buyers, but it seems that in the current market, they are doing so to an even greater extent.
Back in June of last year, the average quick sale home was listed for -8.8% less than the average asking price across the rest of the market. Today, however, this asking price reduction has climbed to -11.1%.
Of course, with property values having rocketed, the average quick sale asking price is currently £266,631, considerably higher than both the quick sale asking price (£230,428) and the asking price across the wider market (£252,671) seen back in June (2022).
London is not only home to the largest asking price reduction for quick sale properties in the current market at -19.5%, but it has also seen this gap widen by the largest margin since last year when quick sale sellers were reducing by just -9.9%.
Chris Hodgkinson, Managing Director of House Buyer Bureau, commented: “There are plenty of reasons a seller may want to move swiftly and these can range from a recent bereavement, financial difficulty or relocating for work, amongst other things.
"That said, home sellers are a savvy bunch and so it’s no surprise that following a sustained period of slower house price growth, we’ve seen an uplift in the number of homes reaching the market specifically in search of a quick sale.
"This has almost certainly been in anticipation of a house price drop, the first signs of which have now come to the surface and the likelihood is that many more will now follow suit before the rot sets in.
"With the price they are able to achieve clearly a primary factor behind their decision, it may seem strange that they are also opting to slash their asking price expectations by a greater margin to secure a buyer.
"However, due to the high rates of growth seen since the pandemic, even when implementing this discount they are still marketing at a higher asking price compared to the regular market back in June of last year.
"So not only are they able to benefit from the recent boom, they can do so while selling quickly and avoiding any impending bust.”
