Revealed - Homesellers reducing by £150k for a cash-buyer

In the tough current economy, British homebuyers will cut their asking price expectations by as much as £150,000 to attract a cash buyer for a smoother sale in a frantic property market.

This latest research has been disclosed by estate agent comparison site, GetAgent, which analysed the current property listings across the major property portals, looking at the listed asking price for sellers only willing to deal with a cash buyer and how this asking price compares to the rest of the market.

Abatement for a successful sale

Those searching for a cash buyer only had listed for an average asking price of £186,768 versus an average asking price of £256,373 across the rest of the market, the research shows. That’s a whopping discount of almost £70,000 (-27%) for those with purchasing cash on hand as opposed to those funding their transaction with the help of a mortgage.

London currently has the biggest cash buyer discounts available on the market and the average asking price for homes listed in the region is £486,931 at present, yet those looking for a cash buyer are listing at an average asking price of £335,680 – a huge saving of £151,250 for those paying with cold hard cash.

Co-founder and chief executive officer of GetAgent.co.uk, Colby Short, commented: “Although the market has showed signs of cooling after what has been a manic pandemic property boom, the current landscape is still frantic, to say the least, and there remains a very high level of buyers looking to transact.

As a result, sellers are still accepting offers at an alarming speed, but there remains some lengthy delays when it comes to getting a sale through to completion.

One way of bypassing this to an extent is with a cash buyer and it seems as though some sellers are willing to dramatically lower their asking price in order to secure this easier path to completion.”

Other points of interest

Cash buyers can also secure some substantial discounts in the South East, where the average home advertised for cash buyers is only listed for £82,690 less than the wider average asking price.

This discount also sits at almost £70,000 in the South West (69,063) and East of England (£68,945).

Although a cash buyer can still bag a discount of £35,599, the North East is home to the lowest pounds and pence reduction.

At 32%, this is also the highest percentage reduction in the asking price for a cash buyer in all regions of Britain.