How to sell a house fast in a slow market

In a slower market, sellers may need to work harder to attract viewings and offers. With more homes on the market than we’ve seen in 12 years, and buyer demand 9% lower than a year ago, according to Rightmove, we spoke to Jeremy Leaf, founder of a long-established North London estate agency, Jeremy Leaf & Co, and a former RICS Residential Chair, for his tips on how to sell a house fast in a slow market.

1. Want to sell your house fast? Get the asking price right

• In the current market, sellers should beware of pricing their property too high when they first list. Otherwise, they might not just face delays selling – they could also end up getting less than if they’d listed it for the right price to begin with.
• Estate agent Jeremy Leaf warns that if you list a property for significantly more than it is worth – such as putting on a house worth £500,000 for £550,000 – if you get little interest, you could end up having to keep reducing the price. In this scenario, the house could look stale on the market and people may wonder what’s wrong with it.
• You could end up having to reduce it to below what it’s worth in order to generate interest, which means you could end up with less than if you’d priced right to begin with, he says.

2. Look at the overall cost of your move

• For example, if you think your home is worth at least £500,000, you might not want to take a penny less. But if you can now buy the house you want for less than you’d initially thought in the current market, you should consider the overall figure, he says.

• If you’re unsure where to start, see How much can I sell my house for?

3. Make your property photos stand out

• Making sure the photos are as good as possible is essential. So look at them and think about whether they would attract you. Consider getting a friend’s opinion too.

• Do you have photos taken last winter or of a very dry garden taken during the height of the heatwave, when the garden is now a lot greener? Does your home need decluttering? Does it look inviting? Look carefully at how it compares to others on the market, particularly those in a similar price range.

4. Beware of using AI

• There are an increasing number of reports of estate agents using AI to enhance listings – but doing this could backfire, warns Jeremy. He says that if a buyer arrives at a property with an inflated idea of how good it is, when they see the reality they are more likely to put in a lower offer, or not offer at all, than if they had a more realistic view of what the property would be like.

• “I understand if it’s a brand new property, but certainly with an existing property, I think it’s a bit dangerous,” he says.

5. Make your home a turnkey property

• “In a competitive world, if you’ve got a property which is similar to others, in order to stand out, and particularly because the cost of building now is so high, there’s a proportion of prospective purchasers who just want to move in and put their furniture there and don’t have the time, money or effort to spend on doing the place up,” says Jeremy.

• “So those niggly bits like damp patches and tired decorations and so on, it’s better to try and do it before you go on the market if you can.”

6. Listen to an experienced local estate agent

• “Listen to an agent who has the knowledge and experience of an area and the type of property and the price range that fits your criteria,” he says.

• “A good agent will not say, ‘Do this, do that, do the other,’ they will just say ‘This is what I suggest; these are the options.’ You just have to weigh that up.”

7. Check whether buyers are viewing your property online

• One trick of the trade that’s not generally open to the public is Rightmove Plus, which is an online portal accessible to paid members of Rightmove, and which shows you how many times a listing has been viewed. So speak to your agent. “If you’re having high numbers of views and very few visits, then probably the price is not great,” he says.

How to sell your house in a slow market? Start here!

If you’re wondering how to sell a house fast in a slow market, starting with a realistic asking price, making sure your home presents well and reviewing how buyers respond to your listing can put you in a stronger position.

If you’re preparing to move, see our step-by-step guide to selling your house for everything you need to do.

Ready to sell? Compare local estate agents based on how quickly they sell properties like yours, their success rate and how close they get to the asking price.

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