Anyone trying to sell their home has been warned they could be putting buyers off before they have even stepped through the door.
A London estate agent says thousands of homeowners may be pricing themselves out of the market by setting asking prices that no longer reflect what buyers are prepared to pay.
The warning comes after new analysis by Zoopla, covering more than two million property listings between 2023 and 2026, found that 44% of all homes listed for sale in the UK failed to find a buyer.
The financial hit can also be significant. Zoopla found that the average home sold in the first quarter of 2026 achieved a price 3.5% below its original asking price, equivalent to around £18,800 less than the figure first advertised.
Estate agents say the figures should be a warning to sellers who are still pricing their homes as though it is 2021 or 2022, when demand was high and buyers were competing for limited stock.
Josh Endacott, an estate agent from London firm 1st Avenue, said: “The data paints a really troubling picture for sellers who are going to market with inflated expectations.
“We are seeing a market where buyers have more choice than at any point in over a decade, and yet too many sellers are still pricing as if it were 2022 or 2021, when demand was at its absolute peak, and buyers were competing fiercely for every available property.”
According to Rightmove, the number of homes available for sale across the UK has reached its highest level since 2014, giving buyers more choice and making it easier for them to ignore properties they believe are overpriced.
Experts say that means sellers who launch at the wrong price risk wasting the most important period of their listing.
Zoopla found that 41.8% of all UK property sales happen within the first four weeks of a home being listed. Once a property reaches 12 weeks on the market without a sale, the probability of finding a buyer drops to just 14.5%.
Endacott said: “The first four weeks of any listing are absolutely critical.
“It’s when buyer interest is at its highest and when the most serious purchasers are actively comparing properties.
“If your price is out of step with the market during that window, you lose those buyers, and you are unlikely to get them back.”
Property experts say the mistake is often made because sellers focus on what they need for their next move, or what a neighbour achieved during the pandemic-era boom, rather than what today’s market can support.
That can leave a home sitting online for weeks or months. By the time the seller cuts the price, buyers may already have started to wonder why the property has not sold.
Endacott said: “What makes this particularly damaging is the stigma that builds around a property that has been sitting on the market for months.
“Buyers start to wonder what is wrong with it, why nobody else has made an offer.
“We see sellers making the same mistake repeatedly. People base their asking price on what they need for their next move, or on what a neighbour got three years ago, rather than what the current market will actually support.
“That kind of thinking costs them time, money, and enormous amounts of stress.
“Our advice is always to go to market at the right price from day one. A well-priced home will generate more viewings, more offers, and ultimately a better result than a home that is gradually reduced over weeks and months.”
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