In this Spring Exclusive Property Update, I bring to you something that our team has brought to my attention last week. Estate Agents are selling properties without actually advertising them as being for sale! And they’re still achieving over the asking price for these properties, without advertising them.

Now this is partly because, as I have mentioned once or twice, demand from buyers is still massive and a decent estate agent knows their market and their buyers.

Property News – Here’s some top level stats

  • The property market has very high demand, particularly in lower priced properties
  • Stock levels of less than £200k properties have halved since the pandemic
  • Estate Agents are selling these properties at 3.5% above the asking price
  • There is a big regional disparity between London, the Midlands and Yorkshire being the UK regions where properties are most likely to be not advertised for sale when they actually are

Over the last 12 months, on average, Estate Agents have been selling properties at 2% over the asking price. On your average £400,000 property, this equates to £8,000 more than the asking price.

If we only look at properties priced at under £200,000, then over the last 12 months, on average, Estate Agents have been selling properties at 3.5% over the asking price. On a £200,000 property, this equates to £7,000 more.

Now to look at some science behind the stats

Great Britain as a whole, we observed an increase in properties that are selling, but not advertised, at 2.4%. Now, this does not sound like a lot, but it is over 4,650 properties.

And this is just looking at one quarter. If we assume that level of non-activity over the course of a year, an additional 18,600 properties are now not being advertised, but are being sold!

When we look at this regionally, however, there are some strong disparities. Across both Inner and Outer London, the percentage increase in non-advertised properties is high, equating to an additional 4,200 properties now not being advertised but are being sold over the course of a year.

Other places where this appears to be a more common practice are the West Midlands, the East Midlands and Yorkshire.

In the West Midlands alone, there is an additional 4,100 properties now not being advertised, but are being sold, over the course of a year. In the East Midlands, this figure is 3,000, and in Yorkshire, 2,650.

Conclusion

Whilst Estate Agents have a stock of people queueing up to buy properties, and they can sell these properties at a great price for the vendor, we expect this trend to continue.

If stock levels fall even further, and/or selling prices rise when compared to asking prices, then we might well experience higher volumes of non-advertised properties that are for sale.

In summary therefore, our view is that emergence of non-advertised properties is not a temporary phenomenon, moreover, it is one that is entirely dependent on future market dynamics.

The higher the underlying demand for property is, the less likely we are to see properties advertised for sale.

Take care,

Your Property Team