Sellers still basing prices on post-pandemic high demand
Despite continual warnings about competitive pricing, some sellers are still pricing their properties based on the post-pandemic conditions of 2021 and 2022 when demand was high and stock was limited.
And that means they are losing out on a potential sale, with buyers looking elsewhere, according to Josh Endacott, an estate agent from London firm 1st Avenue.
He said: “We are seeing a market where buyers have more choice than at any point in over a decade, and yet too many sellers are still pricing as if it were 2022 or 2021, when demand was at its absolute peak, and buyers were competing fiercely for every available property.”
According to Zoopla, 44% of UK homes listed for sale over the past three years failed to find a buyer, while homes sold in early 2026 achieved an average of £18,800, or 3.5%, below their original asking price.
Endacott continued: “The data paints a really troubling picture for sellers who are going to market with inflated expectations.”
Rightmove data shows that the number of homes available for sale across the UK has been at its highest point in more than a decade for some time, giving buyers more choice and making it easier for them to ignore properties they believe are overpriced.
Price to demand attention
Endacott said sellers must price to demand attention in the initial buyer window of interest. “The first four weeks of any listing are absolutely critical. It’s when buyer interest is at its highest and when the most serious purchasers are actively comparing properties.
“If your price is out of step with the market during that window, you lose those buyers, and you are unlikely to get them back.”
Zoopla found that 41.8% of all UK property sales happen within the first four weeks of a home being listed. Once a property reaches 12 weeks on the market without a sale, the probability of finding a buyer drops to just 14.5%.
“What makes this particularly damaging is the stigma that builds around a property that has been sitting on the market for months,” Endacott said. “Buyers start to wonder what is wrong with it, why nobody else has made an offer.
“We see sellers making the same mistake repeatedly. People base their asking price on what they need for their next move, or on what a neighbour got three years ago, rather than what the current market will actually support.”
