Reductions a plenty in the prime property market… where does this leave the seller?

Oct. 31, 2011 - PRLog -- It has been an unprecedented couple of weeks. Since would-be buyers arrived back from their second homes abroad and the kids went back to school, the prime country house market seems to have gathered pace. This is most evident in the pages of Country Life which is packed with available prime properties for sale, in a volume that has not been seen for a good few years.

However, on closer inspection there seems to be something very familiar with the contents of much of the property section. Properties that were on the market pre-summer only to disappear in July have re-appeared or been re-launched. This can only be in the hope of catching new buyers to the market, who after being away for the summer have returned with zest and ambitions to be in their dream home by Christmas.

As well as the re-launched Country Life properties, at Elite Property Search we have been receiving a slew of email alerts from the leading Prime Country Estate Agents promoting properties which stuck it out “on market” through the summer and are now being offered with significant price reductions to generate interest and hopefully a sale.

What has surprised me as much as the reduction values - is the volume of prime property in this position.
As an example here are my top 5 to date:
•   Woodcote Manor, Bramdean, Hampshire      £7.75 - £6.9m   
•   The Abbey, Aston Abbotts, Buckinghamshire   £5.75 - £5.25m
•   The Old Rectory, Biddestone, Wiltshire       £3.5m - £2.5m
•   North Brewham House, Brewham,  Somerset    £3.5m - £2.95m
•   Bourne Court, St Mary Bourne, Hampshire       £2.95m - £2.5m

So, why so many and such large reductions?
Was it that these properties were valued too highly in the first place, pushed by agents giving bullish valuations to excite the vendor and win their business? Or perhaps the originally inflated prices were driven by vendors with high and unrealistic expectations that coerced the agents into setting such high prices?

I am sure you will have your own opinion and a different story may well be told from property to property.

What we are sure of is that price reductions are offered in the expectation that they will generate more interest and competition, which in turn will push the price up, hopefully in advance of the original asking price.

However, as a prime property buying agent this is not a scenario we are experiencing. www.elitepropertysearch.com/what-we-do/buying-agents

There are definitely buyers out there, but they are relatively sparse and those buyers that are out there certainly aren’t rushing in to buy. They are now better informed and more aware with a willingness to wait for something to reach what they see as a realistic and fair price level.

Certainly when a property comes with a guide price (even a reduced one), this is read as an asking price, and sets buyers expectations  to pay a lower price, particularly for properties that have been available for a while.

So where does this leave the seller?

Well, if their property doesn’t sell very quickly after coming to market our best advice would be to wait patiently with hope, or expect and accept an offer lower than their original asking price, which in today’s market could well be lower than their price adjusted expectations.