Further, the median after a reduction
Of the original guide, the median achieved after a cut
The week in which most reductions were made
The claim
“You can always come down later.”
You can, and most offices on this coast expect to. A guide set a little above the evidence is presented as room to negotiate, and the reduction in week seven as a routine adjustment. Buyers do not read it as either.
A registered buyer sees a house launch, decides it is too dear, and waits. When the figure falls they are no longer deciding whether the house is right; they are deciding how much further it will fall. The reduction does not bring the first buyer back. It tells every buyer the owner will move again.
What we did
Every reduction we could trace this half year, followed to the contract.
We followed each house on the coast that was reduced in its first twelve weeks between January and June. The median took a further fifty-one days to agree after the cut, and sold at a little over ninety-four per cent of the figure it launched at.
Three houses that were cut
Cut 6% in week seven
91.8% of original guide
Cut 4% in week eight
95.0% of original guide
Cut twice, in weeks six and ten
89.4% of original guide
The way to avoid a week seven cut is not to set a lower number. It is to set the right one on day one and print the sales it rests on, so the first buyer has nothing to wait for.
Written between viewings · Havilon & Co.