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August 14, 2017
You may think that life is rosy for those homeowners at the top end of the market but it seems owning a multi-million pound property is not without its woes, particularly when it comes to selling up.
According to new research using data from EstateAgent4Me properties that are worth £2 million or more are struggling to sell with agents having to reduce asking prices by an average of £260,000.
The research – which was front page news in the London Evening Standard, and featured in Mail Online, CityAM and the Metro – revealed properties in the £1.75m – £2m bracket are seeing average discounts of around 12% and those priced between £1.5m and £1.75m are being marked down by 9%.
Table 1: Price performance at the top end of the UK housing market 2017
In the middle range (£200,000 – £500,000) discounts are at their smallest, with the average reduction on the asking price only around 3%. This means a typical property listed on the market at £300,000 would be likely to sell for around £291,000, a reduction of just £9,000.
Meanwhile at the lower end of the market reductions are much lower. Agents dealing with properties that on average sell within the £100,000 – £125,000 bracket are selling for around 6% under their asking price – a discount of just under £7,000.
Table 2: Price performance at the lower end of the UK housing market 2017
The analysis also found that agents dealing with homes at the lower end of the market are selling faster. In Hampstead, for example, the most expensive area of the country, only 22% of properties listed for sale are selling. On average, those that do sell take 97 days to exchange and agents achieve only 89% of the original asking price for the seller whereas in Gosport, the least expensive area of the South East, where property sells for an average of £197,848, homes are on the market for an average of 35 days, with agents achieving 97% of the asking price.
Paula Higgins, chief executive of HomeOwners Alliance which runs the EstateAgent4Me website, said the results were ‘fascinating’.
She added: “Gone are the days of bidding wars for luxury properties, now it would seem that the lower the value of a property, the quicker it sells.
“This data serves as a reminder to people, particularly those thinking of selling their homes, that they should make use of digital tools such as EstateAgent4Me to make an informed decision about whether to sell and who to list their property. The tool can help sellers find high performing agents in their area, which is all the more important when market conditions are difficult.”
March 25, 2025 
