EA telling us to reduce the price

[justasmalltownmum]

found a house we liked back in April, so listed ours and within about 3ish weeks had 2 offers.

One for asking price and one for 5k less.

Got into a chain and the chain collapsed. So we said we are no longer selling as the one we wanted is no longer available. It was that or nothing, so EA took ours off the market.

Start of August the original house we wanted has come back to us, so now need new offers on ours. So EA relisted ours. But it has been terrible second time around.

lack of viewings - EA said due to August/ summer holidays
lack of offers - people saying they would offer but it would be 20-30k below asking

now EA is saying to lower the price by 25k.

thoughts? Advice? Any experiences?
Has the market changed so much in 4 months?
should we wait until September for it to pick up? But by then we won’t be new to market.

thanks!

Not really because when you hit realistic pricing levels more buyers could appear and compete for the house.

We’ve been on the market since April, have reduced by 120. The arse has fallen out of the market here.

Mortgage rates are higher than they were and its impacting the market. I guess hold out if you need to get more, but is a risk of achieving less if you take it off the market and re-advertise. As frustrating as that is.

Still seriously low by historical standards though.

Depends where you are in the country but prices are dropping in lots of areas. If you can still afford the house you want I would accept.

I'd wait a couple of weeks into Sept before lowering price, but the longer you leave it the more buyer will negotiate on price.

Also my thought. Having been on for a long time is a sign to buyers that your position is weak.

Reduce your offer on the house you want and tell the agent that’s your best offer. You will probably have to accept a reduction in your house. There may be more viewers in September but also more people coming on the market. I doubt you will see offers increase much.

Hold your nerve and just reduce by the 10k that you said you can afford to do. House sales for estate agents everywhere have been really poor over the Summer and they are desperate for commission . Once house is reduced any more cheeky offers from viewers below asking of 30k say no!

If the EA is saying reduce by 25k and offers are coming in at 30k under this won"t work! You are realistically looking at having to reduce by 30 - 50k to maybe get a sale, it will also depend on demand for the area.

August is always quiet wait until the schools have gone back in Sept and see if the offers come in.

Oh no that’s so tough

If you’re getting offers with a 30k reduction why wouldn’t you negotiate and aim to meet them half way. That’d be much better than reducing by 25k. You’re obviously getting viewings and then offers. I’d only reduce if you weren’t getting viewings or offers. Honestly, negotiate.

See if you can get the same reduction off your onward purchase. Risk is that more properties will come on the market in September and we could be headed towards an interest rate rise in the coming months.

Update:
we have reduced in a last bid attempt to get viewings / offers before the onward purchase pull out and go back on to the market.

We dropped ours by 25k to get it sold quickly and accepted an offer 5k below the new asking price.
We were in a similar position, only 1 house we liked so very motivated and put ours on the market specially to buy that house.
We asked the agent to see if the vendor would be open to an offer prior to reducing the price of ours, which they were, it had been on the market quite a while which helped. They accepted 25k below asking.
The market is very slow, it's frustrating when people aren't realistic about what their house is worth. Every time I look on Rightmove, there are loads of properties being reduced. The ones that don't just sit there for months on end.

TBH it sounds like time to walk away. You have said you can afford a £10k drop but not £25k and the house you want to buy wont budge.

If thats the case then move on and accept it. I dont think £10-15k would stop people putting offers in on your house for you to consider

Fingers x you will get a buyer very soon. Thanks for updating us.

Wait until the property you want sits on the market and it's sellers face up to reality.

No point dropping your price now as you have nothing to buy.

But yes. The market is getting worse all the time.

Can you afford to drop £25k?

Maybe put it for overs over X

Good luck.
X

This is why you need to market for overs over £....

It seems to me like you are only considering moving for this one dream house. For me that changes things. I'm going all out to get it and if that means dropping mine (within reason) I'm doing that. Put the mortgage over a longer time to make up the shortfall

Good luck.
X

I wouldn't put 'offers over' as I've read that can put off buyers. Good luck OP.

Offers often need a lender"s approval, they might down-value again anyway, people are not up for "making up the difference" like they used to be unless it is a really special house.

trying to clutch water here.
Had a couple of veiwings, seemed promising.
But then people just don’t pick up the agent’s calls when he calls for feedback.
never here from them again.
2 said not for them/ they didn’t like the area. Ok nothing I can do about that. 2 said they like the house and will think about it. A couple just never heard back from.

This is so draining. More so that we have a great offer back in April but then the onward purchase guzumped us. And now we are in a crappy economy all around.

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2026/08/30/houses-in-england-worth-less-than-they-were-20-years-ago/