Overpriced listings are failing to find buyers, with new data revealing the cost of getting it wrong from day one
Nearly half of all UK homes listed for sale over the past three years failed to find a buyer, according to research by Zoopla covering more than two million property listings between 2023 and 2026.
Those that did sell achieved an average of 3.5% below their original asking price in the first quarter of this year, equivalent to around £18,800 less than the figure first advertised.
Josh Endacott (pictured top), an estate agent at 1st Avenue in North Greenwich, told Mortgage Introducer the figures confirm what he sees every week on the ground, with sellers still pricing for a market that no longer exists.
The four-week window
On the major listing portals, freshly listed properties sit at the top of search results. As new stock arrives, older listings are pushed further down the page, and most buyers never scroll that far.
"After the first four weeks, that's when interest drops,” said Endacott. “On Rightmove and Zoopla and all the major listing hubs, the fresh stuff is at the top. Four weeks usually gives enough time for enough new listings to come on top of yours. When people are looking through, I only look at the first couple of pages and then that's it, I get bored and stop. I feel like that's the same for most people."
The data supports that view. Zoopla's May 2026 seller research found 41.8% of all UK property sales occur within the first four weeks of a listing going live. Once a property reaches 12 weeks on the market without a sale, the probability of finding a buyer drops to just 14.5%.
The problem, Endacott said, goes deeper than impatience. Sellers are anchoring expectations to a market that peaked years ago.
"People are still stuck in the old sort of thinking. Five, 10 years ago something would come on and be snapped up within a week or two. That isn't the case anymore. There's just too much property everywhere."
Why are sellers still holding out on price?
Loss aversion is a significant driver. Many owners, particularly those who bought during the 2016 development boom in areas such as North Greenwich, paid peak prices and are unwilling to accept a loss.
"Lots of people who bought in the boom around 2016 are all losing money now because they bought at the height of the prices and since then it's just spiralled downwards. They can't hack making a loss, so they want to stick to a price that's either going to break them even or give them a little bit of profit. But unfortunately, that just isn't viable anymore."
Buyer priorities have also shifted, with value now eclipsing prestige. "It used to be that people wanted the highest price because it's more prestigious. Now people are looking for the best deal. The only ones we've sold recently are the landlords who are willing to take a hit."
The London leasehold market faces a more structural challenge. In parts of the capital where freehold housing is scarce, spiralling service charges have become a decisive deterrent. Endacott described a two-bedroom flat on his books that listed for approximately £485,000 around 18 months ago and is now priced at £375,000.
"That's down over £100,000 in about 18 months. It's mainly because of the service charges. If you're forking out nearly £500,000 on a property, you don't want to be paying £6,000 a year in service charges."
Cladding remediation costs are compounding the issue, being quietly absorbed into service charge bills despite legal restrictions. It is a pattern that runs deeper than the headline data on London's small flat market suggests.
The industry's role in inflating prices
Endacott is direct about the part estate agents themselves have played. Large firms operating on listing targets, he argued, have created a cascade of overvaluation that distorts the wider market.
"Lots of landlords come to us for a valuation. I'll keep it 100% real with them and say, your property's worth X. They'll get another agent in, and they'll completely blow smoke up their backside, tell them it's worth £70,000 or £80,000 more. Then six months down the line, we get the same owner come back to us and say it hasn't sold, there's been no interest. When you get people listing £80,000 over market value, you get another landlord looking at comparable properties, seeing one up there for £580,000, thinking theirs is better and worth £10,000 more. You get this inflated pricing off what I want to call overinflated valuations, and it's all down to some of the major players in the industry."
He contrasted that with 1st Avenue's model: "I get a commission if I sell the flat. I don't get a commission for listing, so there's no benefit in telling an owner it's worth £60,000 more if I'm not going to sell it."
What does this mean for mortgage brokers?
The mispricing problem is feeding directly into mortgage transactions. Endacott said his last three sales were all downvalued by lenders, one by as much as £75,000 from the agreed price.
"Banks are not willing to lend as much. People are going for mortgage offers and the banks aren't willing to lend them the money. The banks are seeing what we're seeing and they're worried that if they lend this money, the value is only going to go down."
The latest Rightmove House Price Index shows the number of homes for sale remains very close to a 12-year high, giving buyers considerable negotiating power and making overpriced stock easier to pass over. Brokers working in Endacott's area, he said, are experiencing the same pressures. "The ones we speak to are saying the same thing as us, that it's just all down in the gutter."
For those advising clients on purchases in this environment, understanding the current state of the UK residential sales market has rarely been more consequential.
Endacott's prescription is unambiguous. "People need to stop overvaluing. When you've got so much competition and so many people overvaluing, you're bound to find yourself in a situation where the sales market just crashes because nothing's going to sell and no one's going to be making any money. The only way that's going to change is if people stop overvaluing. People need to be willing to take a hit because, unfortunately, that's just the way the market is at the moment."
Want to be regularly updated with mortgage news and features? Get exclusive interviews, breaking news, and industry events in your inbox – subscribe to our FREE daily newsletter. You can also follow us on Facebook, X (formerly Twitter), and LinkedIn.
