Lost buyer, house back on market and no interest - what do we do?!

[Goldendoodlelover]

We put our house on the market in January and got loads of interest straightaway: 7 viewings in a week, 1 offer of full asking price which we accepted. We then found the house of our dreams and everything was progressing really well until our buyers pulled out 2 weeks ago (change in family circumstance, unrelated to the house).

We put our house back on the market almost 2 weeks ago and have had very little interest - we had one viewing last week (but then they said it was out of their budget anyway) and we have one this weekend, but that’s it. Our estate agent has said everything is just very quiet because of the situation in the Middle East and fears about inflation / mortgage rates, but we are terrified about losing our purchase property, and the general uncertainty - we are moving out of the area so I have already handed in my notice at work, and so should be looking for new jobs but don’t know if / when we will be moving.

Should we just sit and hold tight? Do we think about reducing price? Is the market as bad as my estate agent says? Any advice would be much appreciated as am finding the whole thing quite anxiety-inducing…

I agree with you. There may be a temporary bounce in transaction numbers at some point but, as you say, where do people suppose all the extra money is suddenly going to appear from given all the economic headwinds?

I would wait 4 more weeks at the current price, then reduce. You need to find the point that buyers are willing to match (while giving them a bit of time to find the listing and take a look, at any given price).

Inflation is going to rocket, cost of living is going to get worse, and if Iran drags on longer we're in for a massive financial crisis. Since you have to move regardless, and renting out your house is now really stressful, I'd be looking to sell fast even at the cost of the onward purchase.

UK borrowing costs hit 20 year highs this morning, reducing price is going to be necessary.

And demand...

Frankly if you don’t sell in the next few weeks then I would look at renting your house out for 12 months whilst you rent in the new area.

Ask them to reduce their price, that is the only way the market will start to function again.

Rental supply is up, rents are falling and demand is also falling, and there are loads of legal obligations plus the tenant might not want to move when you are ready to sell, not a great idea in my view. As someone else said, price to sell now before they start hiking interest rates again.

Yeah I haven’t even thought through all the stresses and new legalities of renting etc. My husband is much more optimistic than I am and thinks we should sit tight - he is very much like ‘it only takes one buyer’ and insists that even though the world is going to sh*t there must still be people who want to buy and sell houses right?! I on the other hand am a natural pessimist but I also tend to catastrophise and just want certainty/control, so it’s hard to know which one of us is right! I think we probably need to give it another week or two and then reassess…

Sorry Op but thanks to Donald Trump nobody wants to buy currently. Even if you rent out, the new laws coming into play will make it difficult for you to do so. It’s all just one giant shit show.
If you want a quick sale, reduce your price now.

Like you, I'm always a pessimist and when we were selling our house I talked myself into the fact that no-one would buy it, but of course they did. Likewise with you, I would give it a few more weeks and then have a conversation with your estate agent about reducing. Unfortunately, as you are so well aware, things are really grim at the moment. But again, having said that, there's always something going on, and people do still need to move areas.

I can only speak for our village - a desirable, quite large village with pubs, shop, post office and easily commutable to the nearest small city in about half an hour by public transport if necessary. It has absolutely stalled - from small terraced houses, through to semis - large and small, and lovely detached houses, some on beautiful country lanes - not much is selling. In fact the only property that has sold is a very large house with stables and land, so it's pretty niche. But that had been on since last year, and with a change of agents. Not much help, I know, but maybe you might have to think about renting it out if you can't sell.

I think that's a reasonable balance. Don't panic! Give it a couple of weeks and then reassess.

Demand for rental is down, maybe not for unique properties though.

https://www.mortgagestrategy.co.uk/news/renter-demand-falls-14-in-last-12-months-zoopla/

Things are changing hourly at the moment, you have to read the bigger trends of the market.

Have you thought about changing agents and relisting? Sometimes a refresh can give you the boost you need to get it over the line?

Also, have you checked out other very recent sale prices with other agents to sense check what you're both thinking? We live in a very desirable area (like houses rarely last a week on the market), but there has been an unexpected slow down in 2026 - I've never known anything like it. I heard from local agents that offer prices are about 10% under asking, which is the opposite to the last 10 years when you had to offer 10% over to even buy a doer upper.

Basically, what I am saying is the market seems to have completely changed in just 3 months so there is a chance that you are right that even 2 months has changed things...