Nick Churton of Mayfair International Realty offers some simple advice for sellers whose property has been on the market a little too long, in a market that is extremely price sensitive at present.

If your property is on the market but with few viewers and no takers then it may be – and it’s hard for estate agents to say this - that the price is a little too high.  With the autumn selling season upon us and the market finely balanced now might be the time to take the selling initiative that, for some odd reason, dare not speak its name – R-E-D-U-C-E!

The very idea of a price reduction has a strange but rather understandable effect on the part of many sellers.  To them reducing the price somehow feels like losing money – and what will the neighbours say?  But of course without a buyer no money was ever on the table in the first place, so it is impossible to have lost any.  It just feels like that.  As for the neighbours, isn’t the whole idea to get new ones?

For buyers there is no such imagined stigma, stain or loss.  For them a price reduction is all about opportunity - the opportunity to purchase a property today that was unaffordable yesterday.

But it really is also a very great opportunity for the seller.  Reducing an asking price brings many more buyers into orbit; it undercuts the competition; it saves time in selling and it lets the seller move on instead of living in limbo.  It also increases the chance to buy another property at a beneficial price through being in a stronger position to go ahead.  Always remember that if your own property is under price pressure then others will be also – including, most likely, the one you will eventually buy.

So for sellers a price reduction shouldn’t be seen as a sorry defeat or bitter retreat.  It is a positive, bold and offensive action made as a result of carrying out valuable market research to establish true value and then, most importantly, acting wisely and ruthlessly upon that knowledge.

If a retailer can’t sell some stock then it goes on sale.  If the prices of commodities like oil or gold become too high to attract buyers then the cost will come down until they do.  These are market forces and the housing market is just as affected by these pressures as any other area of commerce.

Selling property is rarely done in isolation.  It is usually as a result of an overlaying life wish or need.  So if a price reduction is required to get things moving don’t stall.  Shout it from your rooftop and move on.  Your new neighbours won’t care what you sold for - but they might be rather interested in the price you paid!