Aggressive valuations: London home sellers overprice their properties by 40 per cent
Home sellers across London are overpricing by as much as 40 per cent when it comes to the price at which they list their homes on the country’s major portals, versus the reality of what buyers will pay, according to new data shared with City A.M. this morning.
The figures show that across Britain, the average asking price across the major portals currently sits at £296,950, while homes are actually selling for £258,464 – a reality gap of 13 percent or £38,486.
In London, the gap between the average asking price and sold price of properties is far larger.
Currently, the average asking price across the major portals is a giddy £833,994 while homes across the capital are actually selling for an average of £494,673.
That’s a huge disparity of 40 per cent between what sellers are asking for and what buyers are willing to pay, equating to a £339,321 difference in pounds and pence.
Property portal MoveStreets studied data on the UK’s most popular platforms, looking at the current average asking price across each region of Britain before comparing the asking price expectation to the reality of the market based on the latest sold prices.
Rest of the country
The second-largest difference is in the South West, where there is a -24 per cent difference between the average asking and sold price in the current market.
In the South East (-23 per cent), Wales (21 per cent), East Midlands (21 per cent), North East (21 per cent), West Midlands (20 per cent) and North West (20 per cent) the average sold price is also 20 per cent or more below the average asking price.
Scotland is home to the most realistic home sellers in Britain. The average price paid by homebuyers sits just 4% below the average asking price across the major portals.
| Region | Average Asking Price | Average Sold Price | Difference (%) | Difference (£) |
| Scotland | £184,149 | £177,166 | -4% | £6,983 |
| Yorkshire and The Humber | £210,728 | £180,324 | -14% | £30,404 |
| East of England | £384,561 | £312,076 | -19% | £72,486 |
| North West | £230,045 | £185,171 | -20% | £44,874 |
| West Midlands region | £277,229 | £220,759 | -20% | £56,470 |
| North East | £183,006 | £144,935 | -21% | £38,071 |
| East Midlands | £271,891 | £214,169 | -21% | £57,722 |
| Wales | £238,770 | £187,960 | -21% | £50,810 |
| South East | £459,999 | £354,278 | -23% | £105,721 |
| South West | £364,958 | £277,178 | -24% | £87,780 |
| London | £833,994 | £494,673 | -41% | £339,321 |
| Britain | £296,950 | £258,464 | -13% | £38,486 |
Average asking price sourced from a combined average across Zoopla and Rightmove. Sold Prices sourced from the Gov.uk – UK House Price Index (latest available).
“We’ve seen an incredibly hot market of late and despite the end of the stamp duty holiday, high levels of buyer demand and low levels of available stock continue to see properties fly off the shelf at pace and for a very good price,” said CEO and Co-Founder of MoveStreets, Adam Kamani, this morning.
“However, it’s clear that even in current conditions, many sellers are listing their homes at an over-optimistic price point, no doubt in an attempt to take advantage of the market boom,” he noted.
“This can be detrimental to your sale regardless of how the market is performing and can result in months of little to no interest in your home,” Kamani wanred.