Rightmove UK said London homes for sale had only a 42% chance of finding a buyer, far below the 61% average across Britain. Sellers in London are facing a much tighter market than sellers in Scotland, where the figure reaches 91%.
61% across Britain is the benchmark Rightmove used for its analysis, and the spread is wide: 56% in the South East and 71% in the North West of England, against London’s 42%. For a seller, that means pricing has to do more of the work up front, because a later cut is far less efficient than getting close to market value at the start.
September rightmove UK price rise
0.7% was the month-on-month rise in the average price tag in September, equal to £2,441 and lifting the typical asking price to £367,440. Rightmove said that was the first monthly increase since May and larger than the average September rise over the past 10 years, which was 0.5%.
74% of homes sold so far this year were priced right first time and did not need a later asking price reduction. That points to a market where sellers who start too high lose time, while those who set a sharper asking price can move faster in a market that is still stretched by affordability.
London versus Scotland
91% in Scotland is the clearest sign that the issue is not a broad national collapse in demand but a regional gap in buyer activity. London’s 42% chance of finding a buyer sits 49 percentage points below Scotland’s level and 19 points below the UK average, which leaves sellers in the capital with less room for error on price.
56% in the South East and 71% in the North West of England show that London is the weakest of the major areas named in the analysis. The figures suggest that a London seller looking for a quick result may need to cut the asking price to the level buyers will actually meet, rather than waiting for a market-wide lift that is not present in the numbers.
12-year high supply
12-year high supply of homes for sale is the other side of the equation: more choice for buyers, and more competition for sellers trying to stand out. Rightmove also said buyer affordability was still stretched, which helps explain why a September bounce in asking prices has not erased the weakness in the annual comparison.
0.8% below a year earlier and 2.3% below the start of summer is where prices still stand despite the monthly rise. Sellers in London who want to move this autumn are dealing with a market that is improving at the margin, but still clearing unevenly, and the first question remains simple: whether the asking price is low enough to draw the buyer in the first place.
