Selling your home in a challenging property market

In a seller’s market, demand for houses outstrips supply. This puts sellers in a stronger position and they are often able to demand higher prices and sell quickly. Knowing how to navigate a seller’s market means you can maximise your property’s value and attract the right buyers.

This is when there are more buyers in the market than there are houses for sale, so the buyers typically have the upper hand in negotiations and can usually secure a lower sale price.  Buyers can be very demanding and want bigger discounts during this time, and sellers often feel they have no choice but to give in to their demands. It’s for this reason that you need to know how to sell quickly in the buyer’s market — as this allows you to sell up while in a position to get the best price possible.

Every local property market will have different market forces influencing the level of local competition. Access to local amenities, schools and transport links, as well as any planned developments, can all impact the value of your property.

A simple way to understand whether your local market is currently a “buyers” or “sellers” market is to:

• Go to Rightmove and enter your postcode and number of bedrooms and search for properties for sale within 1 or 3 miles. Make a note of how many property results are returned
• Click on the Filter option and tick to include Under Offer and SSTC properties (these are the ones that have already sold subject to contract) and note down the updated total of property results
• Divide the first number by the second number. If the answer is 60% or more then you live in a “sellers” market where there is more demand than there is supply, and if the answer is 40% of less then you live in a “buyers” market where fewer properties are selling and conditions are tougher.

Here at House Buyer Bureau, we’ve been analysing the average number of homes sold across each area of the UK to see which property markets have been ranking top and bottom for selling your home. Looking at July-September 2024, there over 183k property sales in these three months alone, with 77.4% of these taking place in England.

According to ONS data of property sales in England and Wales for the year ending March 2024, the South East was the best performing region with 89.9k properties sold, followed by the North West (70.0k) and the South West (61.9k). The three regions that saw the fewest property sales were East Midlands (45.3k), Wales (29.6k) and North East (26.8k).

When using the same data (England and Wales for the year ending March 2024) to look at local authorities, Leeds takes the lead with 7.4k property sales, followed by North Yorkshire (7.3k) and Birmingham (7.2). Cornwall, Somerset, County Durham, Wiltshire, Buckinghamshire, Bradford and Sheffield make up the rest of the top 10.

However, when it comes to the worst place to be a home seller, the Isles of Scilly (9), City of London (130), and Rutland (452) come out “on top”. The remainder of the bottom 10 include Merthy Tydfil, Melton, Oadby and Wigston, North Warwickshire, Blaenau Gwent, Isle of Anglesey and Ceredigion.

Selling a property isn’t always straightforward and there are all sorts of challenges a homeowner might face during the sale process, including…

• There are more homes than buyers

Sometimes, there are simply too many homes on the market and buyers have their pick, so you need to do what you can to make yours stand out.

• Detaching emotionally from the sale

A home is more than just bricks and mortar; it holds memories and sentimental value which can cause some people to not want to sell. This is particularly difficult if one party wants to sell and the other is dragging their heels, which may be the case during a divorce.

• Choosing the right estate agent

The wrong estate agent can lead to unrealistic pricing, poor marketing, and a longer time on the market.

• Sorting all the paperwork

From title deeds to energy performance certificates, selling a property requires a mountain of paperwork, and missing or incorrect documents can cause delays.

• Slow solicitors

The legal side of selling a house can be frustrating, especially if your solicitor is slow to respond. Lack of communication and inefficiency can drag out the process, causing unnecessary stress.

• Property chains

If your sale is dependent on other transactions going through, delays or fall-throughs elsewhere in the chain can impact your timeline. The longer the chain, the greater the risk of setbacks.