Setting Your Asking Price in 2026: Why the First Week Decides Whether Your Home Sells

Quick summary

• 74% of the homes that sold this year came to market at the right price and never needed a reduction.
• Only 61% of homes listed find a buyer at all — down from 74% in 2021.
• There are more homes for sale than at any point in twelve years, and buyer enquiries are 9% lower than last year.
• Expect roughly seven months from listing to completion: 64 days to find a buyer, then around 150 days to complete.
• Your chances vary enormously by region — from 91% in Scotland to 42% in London.
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Asking prices rose in September for the first time since May, up 0.7% to an average of £367,440 across the UK. That sounds like good news for anyone thinking of selling this autumn, and in one sense it is: confidence is returning after a subdued summer.

But there is a second number that matters far more to you, and it points the other way. There are now more homes on the market than at any point since 2014 — and fewer than two-thirds of them will find a buyer. In a market like this, the price you choose in your first week on the market does more to decide the outcome than anything that happens afterwards.

The market this autumn: more choice than buyers

September's 0.7% rise was slightly ahead of the 0.5% a typical September delivers, so the autumn bounce is real. Underneath it, though, asking prices are still 0.8% lower than a year ago and 2.3% below where they sat at the start of the summer.

What has changed most is choice. Interestingly, the number of new homes coming to market is actually 3% below last year — the pile-up is because homes are arriving faster than they are selling. Buyer enquiries and agreed sales are both running 9% below last year.

For a buyer, that means options. For a seller, it means competition, and it means being the obvious choice on a shortlist rather than one of several similar homes.

The most important number: 74%

Here is the figure worth remembering. Of all the homes that have sold in the UK this year, 74% came to market at the right price and never needed a reduction at all.

Three-quarters of successful sales were, in effect, decided at launch. That is not a coincidence, and it is not simply that well-priced homes happen to be nicer homes. It reflects how buyers actually search: online, filtered by price bracket, comparing your home directly against everything else in that bracket on the same screen.

Why only three in five homes sell

Across the whole market, just 61% of listings find a buyer — against 74% back in the supply-constrained market of 2021.

Put those two figures side by side and the picture is clear. Being priced correctly is strongly associated with selling; a large share of the homes that never sell were priced optimistically at the start. An ambitious asking price used to cost a seller a few extra weeks. Increasingly, it costs them the sale entirely.

What an over-ambitious launch actually costs

It is tempting to think of a high asking price as a free option — try it, and reduce later if nothing happens. The timings are what make that expensive.

The average home takes 64 days to find a buyer, and a further 150 days to complete. That is around seven months from listing to keys. A home that launches 5% too high, sits quietly through October and reduces in November has realistically lost the autumn market — it is now looking at a spring completion.

There is a second cost that does not show up in the calendar. Portals show buyers how long a listing has been live and flag price reductions. A home that has been on the market for months carries a question mark with it, and buyers who might have paid the fair price in week one often arrive expecting a discount by week twelve.

Your region matters more than the national average

National figures hide enormous variation. The share of listed homes that successfully find a buyer runs:

A seller in Scotland is operating in a fundamentally different market from a seller in London, where fewer than half of all listings sell. If you are in a lower-success region, pricing accurately is not cautious — it is the difference between selling and not selling.

This is exactly why local knowledge counts for more than a national headline, and why a valuation should be built from what has actually sold on your street in recent months rather than from what neighbours are currently asking.

Buyer budgets have tightened again

The Bank of England held the base rate at 3.75% on 17 September. A hold is not the same as cheaper borrowing, though, because lenders price off expectations rather than the base rate itself: Rightmove's tracked average two-year fixed rate rose from 5.09% to 5.29% over the month, adding roughly £180 a month to a typical mortgage payment.

That matters to you as a seller because it directly shrinks what your buyer can offer. The next base rate decision is due on 5 November.

Should you wait for the Budget?

The Autumn Budget falls on 28 October, and speculation about property taxes has been unusually loud this year. One thing has been settled publicly: the Government has ruled out scrapping or replacing stamp duty, and ruled out merging stamp duty and council tax into a single annual property tax.

Beyond that, anything you read before the day itself is speculation, and we would not encourage you to plan around it. What we can say is that transactions typically slow in the fortnight before a Budget and pick up afterwards — so a home that is priced right and already on the market is well placed for that November pick-up, while one that waits joins a queue.

How to price realistically from day one

• Ask for evidence, not flattery. A valuation should be built on comparable homes that have completed recently, not on current asking prices.
• Be honest about your own home's drawbacks. Buyers will find them, and they will price them in.
• Treat the highest valuation with caution. The agent who suggests the highest figure is not necessarily the agent who will achieve the highest price.
• Plan your first two weeks properly. Photography, floorplans and listing quality do the most work in the window when your home is newest and most visible.
• Agree a review point in advance. Decide with your agent what you will do if viewings have not materialised within a set number of weeks, before emotions are involved.

Why choose Century 21?

Every Century 21 office is locally owned and run by people who work that market every day — which is precisely the knowledge these figures call for. We would rather have a straightforward conversation with you at the valuation stage about what your home will genuinely achieve than agree a flattering number and come back to you in six weeks asking for a reduction.

If you are weighing up a move this autumn, your local Century 21 office can talk you through what has actually been selling near you, and what a realistic timeline looks like.

Frequently asked questions

Is now a good time to sell? It is a reasonable time to sell, provided you price accurately. Asking prices rose in September and buyer confidence is improving, but with stock at a twelve-year high you are competing with more homes than usual. Sellers who price well are still achieving sales; sellers who price optimistically are increasingly not selling at all.

How long will it take to sell my home? On current averages, around 64 days to find a buyer and a further 150 days to complete — roughly seven months in total. Local conditions vary widely, so ask your local office what is typical for your area and property type.

Should I start high and reduce later if needed? It is rarely the stronger strategy in this market. Three-quarters of the homes that sold this year never needed a reduction, and portals make both listing age and price cuts visible to buyers. A home that has been listed for months tends to attract lower offers, not higher ones.

In summary

The September market offers a genuine opportunity for sellers — but only for those who meet it with a realistic price. With buyers holding more choice than they have had in over a decade, the asking price you set in your first week is the single biggest factor within your control.

Contact your local Century 21 office today for an honest, evidence-based valuation.

Market data in this article is drawn from the Rightmove House Price Index (September 2026) and the Bank of England's Monetary Policy Committee decision of 17 September 2026. Figures were correct at the time of writing. This article is for general information and does not constitute financial, tax or legal advice.