Home buyers becoming more ‘price sensitive’, says property website

Home buyers are becoming more “price sensitive”, with the gap between asking and selling prices widening, according to an index.

Buyers are now typically agreeing sales at 3.6% below the asking price, Zoopla said.

Over the summer of 2024, buyers were more confident as mortgage rates fell, agreeing purchase prices that were, on average, 3.2% below the asking price, the website added.

Despite heightened price sensitivity, Zoopla said that the volume of agreed sales is 30% higher than a year ago.

The number of sales being agreed has grown steadily over 2024, building a big pipeline of sales that will complete in the first half of 2025.

It is the biggest pipeline of sales at the end of the year for four years, showing the extent to which buyers and sellers have returned to the market having delayed moving decisions in the face of higher mortgage rates, the website said.

Buyers are agreeing deals ahead of stamp duty changes from April 2025 which will see the “nil rate” band for first-time buyers in England and Northern Ireland reduce from £425,000 to £300,000.

Richard Donnell, executive director at Zoopla, said: “Buyers and sellers returned to the housing market in 2024 having delayed moves in the face of higher mortgage rates.

“There is a sizable pipeline of sales that will complete in the first half of 2025, with many hoping to avoid higher stamp duty costs from next April.

“More sales have supported a return to house price growth across the country but home buyers have become more price sensitive in recent weeks as mortgage rates drift higher.”

He predicted: “Affordability constraints will keep the pace of house price growth in check over 2025 but there will be enough price inflation to support 5% more home moves.”