Nationally, those figures were 0.2% and 7.7% respectively. Sellers who needed a reduction therefore agreed sales much further below their original asking price. Starting higher had not protected them from eventually accepting less.

That is a fair challenge. An asking price is an ambition, not a valuation confirmed by a buyer. A home advertised at an unrealistic figure can show a substantial reduction without ever having been worth that original amount.

The more revealing comparison is what happened after the reduction. Reduced homes still agreed sales at an average of 1.8% below their final asking price, compared with just 0.2% for homes that needed no reduction. That additional 1.6% in negotiation is equivalent to £4,800 on a £300,000 home.

Obviously, there are different groups of properties, so this does not prove that the same home would have achieved £4,800 more with a different launch price. However, it challenges the comforting idea that you can start high, reduce later and expect buyers to pay the revised asking price without further negotiation.

Attleborough homes that found a buyer without a price reduction took an average of 28 days to reach sale agreed. Those that needed a reduction took 85 days, a difference of 57 days. That is before the legal process leading to exchange and completion.

Nationally, the comparison was 24 days against 103 days, an additional 79 days before a sale was even agreed. For someone trying to secure another property, coordinate a school move or bring a separation to a conclusion, that is considerably more than an inconvenience.

Price is not the only influence on how quickly a home sells. Condition, location, presentation and individual circumstances all matter. Nevertheless, the figures give sellers good reason to question whether starting high is a harmless experiment.

When your home first appears on the Attleborough market, it reaches buyers who already know the alternatives. If your asking price puts it alongside homes offering more space, a better location or less work, those buyers may simply look elsewhere. Months later, a reduction might bring the price into line, but you may then face another obstacle: buyers wondering why the property has remained unsold for so long. Now the price isn’t the issue as people start to think there is something wrong with the home itself. A realistic launch price and strong presentation give you the best opportunity to make that first impression count.

National analysis supplied by Denton House Research also shows a striking relationship between the time taken to find a buyer and the likelihood of the agreed sale reaching exchange and completion.

Where a sale was agreed within 25 days, 19 out of 20 (94%) of those sales reached exchange and completion. Where finding a buyer took 100 days or more, that figure was 11 out of 20 (56%). Put another way, the slower sale group of homes was 40.4% less likely to exchange & complete.

That does not mean a lengthy marketing period directly causes a sale to fail, or that an individual Attleborough home will follow the national pattern, yet it does show why “we found you a buyer …. eventually” is not the only outcome worth measuring. What matters is whether that buyer gets you exchanged and completed on moving day.

Before agreeing a launch price, ask your estate agent which comparable homes have found buyers. What else will purchasers see within the same budget? What supports the valuation, both in pound notes and pounds per square foot? Agree when you will review the approach if interest falls short, and check the sole agency term before signing, particularly if it ties you in for a long time (many sign you up for 20 or 26 weeks).

Choose the Attleborough agent who can explain how they intend to achieve the strongest price, with evidence to support it. The highest suggested asking price is easy to offer. Finding a buyer willing and able to pay it is the harder part.

Starting high can feel like keeping your options open. These figures show why it deserves more scrutiny: longer marketing periods, greater negotiation against the final asking price and a lower completion rate among homes that took longer to find a buyer. Before you decide to “see what happens”, ask yourself how much time and uncertainty you are prepared to accept. The aim is to achieve the strongest price the market will support and get you moved.

Stats from Sprift, TwentyEA, Denton House Research 

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