What kind of discount do buyers expect on average when making offers??

[CatAndHisKit]

Just curious as I haevn't sold for a while. When I sold previously it was in 'hot' areas so the worst scenario got the asking price plus minus couple of thousand.

I'm now in a town with slow-ish market but prices has increased a little in 5 yrs and I know will increase more, just because it's below National average but theplace is being invested in. Had two offers way below, about 7%, not long on the market and the agent 'stands by' his valuation.

But reaistically, if you are selling / have sold, what discount were you happy with and is expected?

was supposed to be one question mark in title, I'm not being incredulous!

7% below asking isn't well below. What's important is actual sold prices in the area rather than an EA's valuation.

Anything less than 10% below in a slow area you are doing alright

Would the offer 7% below be near to what you were expecting or massively different?
You should market for at least 5% more that you will take, ideally 10%

7% doesn't seem that below.
We have usually offered 10 below and had 5 accepted.

We sold in a dead market for
10 below on an already fair price but we wanted to move.

10% was always a rule of thumb round here

I agree. There is no "rule of thumb". Depends entirely on how the house is priced according to sold prices. I'd expect anyone in this day and age to have done some research about value, rather than just offering 10% or 15% under asking price for the sake of it.

Pretty much agree with previous posters. 7% not low at all. Current market in our average bit of London 10-25% less than initial asking price is the norm when looking at eventual sold prices. Imagine reduction slightly less in other parts of the country. It's not really all Brexit related either, prices had simply got too high.

I’m in London and in the local area, 7% below would be seen as taking the proverbial. A lot of properties go over the asking price.

I think you’ll see how many viewings you’re getting and what offers are coming in. If it’s consistently 7-10% below asking, then that’s what the house is worth to people.

It really depends how accurate the agent's "valuation" was to begin with.

Currently buying a flat in a city in the north west that had three asking price offers. They went with us because we are not in a chain.

I sold at 10% below asking (Estate Agen’t valuation), 7% below what I thought it was really worth.

However that was to a cash buyer looking for very fast completion and that was the right deal for me at the time.

Two houses in my road have sold in the last six months for more than the asking price. I think there is too much variation and also comes down to how much the potential buyer wants the property for there to be a rule of thumb.

Kamma seriously? I'd love to know where in London they accept 25% under asking! I can see that it may be 10% as London (some parts) gone ridiculously overpriced for what it is, but 25%?

Orange and JoJo yes, I sold in London before, also over asking, then in Bristol when it started to go up, asking minus 2K.

Thank you all who replied. I wonder if the posters who accepted 7-10% less were upsizing/downsizing? More imoirtantly, gow long did you wait before accepting that? Maybe I'm just being impatient.

Well, I sort of blame the valuer as he actively talked of 5K discount being very realistic. I did point out that houses around sell with varying success, and a similar one is on for less on my street, but it is a bit smaller and the garden/position is much worse - he said mine is a lot more saleable.
They didnt have to earn me choosing them as I went to then 'cos I bought this house from them previously. So why not just say that realistically you'll get 7-10 % less from offers, instead of making me hope, I think he does believe his valuation. I'd be happy with 10K discount rather than 5K he mentioned, but 15-20K makes me disappointed as it would mean I haven't made much at all on it in over 5 yrs. It's an average National sort of price but it's a lot of house (Midlands)!
I just don't know whether to wait for 2-3months for better offers, or to resign myself already (1 offer out of 5 viewings in a month)? I'm just thinking if anyone was interested they'd viewed already...As I say haven't sold in slow market before.

We were upsizing but we bought before property went nuts so that we had a lot of equity even selling during a property crash at a lower price.
I think the same is true of the next couple of houses we bought.(only one at a time to be clear)

You won’t always make money with property. Sometimes you only break even and sometimes you lose.

With regards to valuations, valuers are only people. I’ve seen significant differences in valuations not just from estate agents but between chartered surveyors too.

Slow area and we have accepted -2.5% from our reduced asking price but -4.5% from our original asking price. We priced our house low and won’t be making any money on it at all.

Another one surprised at 10 to 25% lower than asking in London. This has certainly not been our experience at all where we are. Typically in my area it’s either asking price or 10-20k under asking. 10% under I cannot imagine! The house that we are selling is very easy to value as there are lots of the same type of houses in the area and quite a few sold in the last two years. I could imagine variations in valuations happen more if the house is more unique and there are just not many others around of the same type.

Comparing initial asking prices to sold prices over the last 18 months or so. Huge areas of SW London actually sold at those sorts of discounts. Tooting, Balham etc. I'd imagine the difference is much less now as reality has hit & initial asking prices are much lower, although sales & new listings still slow & low.

Kamma, ah I can see the far end of Tooting being discounted - bad air quality there and never been nice but prices went crazy at some point as they did everywhere. Blaham though - I'm surprised, well maybe 10% isn't that surprising if furher away from tube but I'd think that's tops! I@d love to live around Northcote rd not that far away, I bet that hasn't gone down.

Well, Balham is crazy expensive and so is the Northcote Rd area. I lived there happily for a few years but tbh, I'm now in Sutton and find the quality of life far superior but do miss the fancier shops.
Prices did drop over 20% in 2018 in some of the very expensive parts of London, eg Kensington and Chelsea or Hammersmith and Fulham. Not sure what they're doing at the moment but I can imagine they could be correcting is some parts of SW London.

ah ok so you didn't mean Balham was down that much, makes sense re Tooting. I know Sutton a litle - good value but very busy now too (the High st., and the station).
I'm curious what didn't you like re quality of life - or do you mean a smaller flat/house? I suppose all the cafes are full in clapham, faster pace...