- Homes that need a price cut take around 100 days to attract a buyer, compared with 28 days for accurately priced properties.
- One in three property sales involved at least one asking price reduction, according to Savills.
- Premium homes face some of the steepest price corrections as London's housing market remains under pressure.
Setting the right asking price could be the difference between selling a home in weeks or waiting months, according to new UK property market research.
Estate agent Savills has found that homeowners who overprice their properties are taking significantly longer to secure buyers, with many eventually forced to cut their asking price. The findings come as the UK housing market remains price-sensitive and buyers continue to be cautious.
The research shows that 33 per cent of completed sales required at least one price reduction before finding a buyer, while 11 per cent needed two or more cuts.
A higher asking price can come at a cost
According to Savills, homes that are priced accurately from the outset typically receive an offer within 28 days. But when sellers have to reduce the asking price once, the average time to secure a buyer stretches to 100 days.
Properties that undergo two price reductions can take almost five and a half months to reach an agreed sale, highlighting how difficult it can be to recover from an unrealistic initial valuation.
"The more you misprice the property, the more protracted the sale process will be," Lucian Cook, residential research director at Savills, reportedly said.
Cook added that many homeowners naturally aim for the highest possible valuation because their home is often their largest financial asset. However, he reportedly said the research shows how important it is to set a realistic asking price from the beginning.
Savills also found that sellers who cut their asking price reduce it by an average of 4.4 per cent each time. More than 20 per cent of sellers had to lower their asking price at least once before completing a sale.
London's premium market remains under pressure
The impact appears to be even greater at the top end of the housing market.
According to Savills, sellers who reduced their asking price four times eventually accepted sale prices averaging 15.4 per cent below their original asking price.
The findings come as official figures continue to point to weakness in parts of London's housing market.
Data released by the Office for National Statistics showed that average house prices in the City of London fell 3.7 per cent in the year to May, leaving the average property valued at £545,000.
Some of London's most expensive boroughs recorded even steeper declines. House prices in Westminster dropped 22.8 per cent, while Kensington and Chelsea recorded a 10.7 per cent fall over the same period.
The latest figures suggest that while buyers remain active, pricing a property too aggressively could make it harder to secure a sale, particularly in a market where affordability and value are increasingly driving purchasing decisions.
