Priced right first time: Why 74% of homes sold this year never needed a reduction
Two sets of data from September 2026 tell the same story from different angles, and for sellers they converge on the same practical conclusion. Rightmove’s House Price Index published on 21 September found that 74% of homes that have sold so far in 2026 were priced correctly at the outset and did not require a subsequent asking price reduction. Zoopla’s House Price Index for September, published on 1 October, found that homes sell fastest when asking prices are realistic and that pricing too high leads to a lack of offers. The 26% of sellers who did need a reduction share a common experience: they lost the most active window of buyer interest before adjusting, which made the eventual sale slower and harder than it needed to be.

The market these figures sit within
Both reports make clear that the current market rewards accurate pricing more than at any point since the post-pandemic surge. The number of homes available for sale is at a 12-year seasonal high according to Rightmove, and Zoopla records a 5% increase in available homes compared to a year ago. At the same time, sales agreed are 9% lower annually across both data sets. Buyers have more choice and less purchasing power than twelve months ago, and they are using both facts.

Zoopla’s September HPI notes that a typical homebuyer is spending an extra £150 per month on mortgage repayments compared to the start of 2026, equating to around £1,800 more per year. The average mortgage rate reached 5.2% in September, up from 4% at the beginning of the year and the highest for three years. These are the conditions in which buyers are not being generous with their offer prices and are not patient with properties that appear to be priced above where the market is.

What the 74% data reveals
The 74% figure from Rightmove’s September HPI is drawn from their analysis of completed transactions across 2026. It tells us that in a market where finding a buyer takes an average of 64 days, and completing the transaction takes a further 150 days after that, the sellers who started at the right price moved through both stages more efficiently. The sellers who started high, waited, then reduced, typically lost significant time during the period before the reduction, as properties that have been on the market for more than a few weeks attract less buyer interest than fresh listings.

Buyer behaviour patterns in a well-supplied market amplify this effect. When a property has been listed for three or four weeks without generating offers, the market reads it as having a problem, even if the only problem is the price. A reduction can restore interest, but it cannot recover the early weeks of maximum visibility when the listing was new.

The regional picture: where pricing pressure is greatest
Zoopla’s September data shows that the experience of sellers varies significantly by location. Annual house price growth is running at 3.1% in the North West, 2.3% in the North East, and 1.8% in Wales, while values have fallen in London by 1%, the South East by 0.7%, and the South West and East of England by 0.3%. In markets where values have declined over the past twelve months, sellers pricing based on what comparable properties achieved a year ago are setting an asking price that the current market cannot support.

Rightmove’s data adds the completion rate dimension: only 42% of homes listed in London are currently finding a buyer at all, compared to 71% in the North West and 91% in Scotland. In slower markets, the gap between a well-priced property and an overpriced one is wider in terms of outcome, because the pool of buyers looking at any given property is smaller.

What sellers can do with this information
Zoopla’s September commentary is direct: sellers should speak to an agent to get accurate pricing advice and factor in the level of demand where they live. Their data shows homes sell quickest when asking prices are realistic. Rightmove’s analysis from the same period is equally clear: sellers who get the initial asking price right are giving themselves the best chance of standing out in a crowded market.

The practical implication is that an agent’s recommended asking price, grounded in comparable recently completed sales in the immediate area rather than in current listings or historical highs, is the most commercially effective starting point. In a market where nearly three quarters of successful sales happen without a reduction, price accuracy at launch is not a concession but a strategy.

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