British home sellers overpricing by up to 41% across the major property portals

Research by MoveStreets, the property portal designed for the mobile generation, has found that homesellers are overpricing by as much as 41% when it comes to the price at which they list their homes on the major portals, versus the reality of what buyers will pay.

MoveStreets analysed data from the major property portals looking at the current average asking price across each region of Britain before comparing this asking price expectation to the reality of the market based on the latest sold prices.

The figures show that across Britain, the average asking price across the major portals currently sits at £296,950, while homes are actually selling for £258,464 - a reality gap of 13% or £38,486.

However, in London, the gap between the average asking price and sold price of properties is far larger. Currently, the average asking price across the major portals is a giddy £833,994 while homes across the capital are actually selling for an average of £494,673.

That’s a huge disparity of -41% between what sellers are asking for and what buyers are willing to pay, equating to a £339,321 difference in pounds and pence.

The second-largest difference is in the South West, where there is a -24% difference between the average asking and sold price in the current market.

In the South East (-23%), Wales (21%), East Midlands (21%), North East (21%), West Midlands (20%) and North West (20%) the average sold price is also 20% or more below the average asking price.

Scotland is home to the most realistic home sellers in Britain. The average price paid by homebuyers sits just 4% below the average asking price across the major portals.

CEO and Co-Founder of MoveStreets, Adam Kamani, commented:

“We’ve seen an incredibly hot market of late and despite the end of the stamp duty holiday, high levels of buyer demand and low levels of available stock continue to see properties fly off the shelf at pace and for a very good price.

However, it’s clear that even in current conditions, many sellers are listing their homes at an over-optimistic price point, no doubt in an attempt to take advantage of the market boom.

This can be detrimental to your sale regardless of how the market is performing and can result in months of little to no interest in your home. It’s the responsibility of the listing agent to guide sellers and set these expectations. While some will value a home at a higher price point to win business, a difference of ten to hundreds of thousand pounds above market value is perhaps a little too far.”

Sold Prices sourced from the Gov.uk - UK House Price Index (latest available).
Table shows the difference between the current average asking price across the major portals vs the average sold price in each region
Region	Average Asking Price	Average Sold Price	Difference (%)	Difference (£)
Scotland	£184,149	£177,166	-4%	£6,983
Yorkshire and The Humber	£210,728	£180,324	-14%	£30,404
East of England	£384,561	£312,076	-19%	£72,486
North West	£230,045	£185,171	-20%	£44,874
West Midlands region	£277,229	£220,759	-20%	£56,470
North East	£183,006	£144,935	-21%	£38,071
East Midlands	£271,891	£214,169	-21%	£57,722
Wales	£238,770	£187,960	-21%	£50,810
South East	£459,999	£354,278	-23%	£105,721
South West	£364,958	£277,178	-24%	£87,780
London	£833,994	£494,673	-41%	£339,321
Britain	£296,950	£258,464	-13%	£38,486
Average asking price sourced from a combined average across Zoopla and Rightmove.