Following the release of their quarterly Market Report, leading prospecting software supplier, Spectre, has revealed that reductions hit a 4-year high in Q1.
The report highlighted a jump in property price reductions in 2024 – having increased by 6% compared to the same period in 2023, and an astounding 115% compared to 2022 – with almost 210,000 price reductions in Q1 2024.
This high level of reductions could be attributed to a lack of certainty in the lending market. In Q1, sellers often had to lower their listing prices to meet current buyer affordability – indicating the market is still struggling to find a balance between sellers’ price expectations, compared to what buyers are prepared to pay.
KNOCK-ON EFFECT
Spectre’s Q1 Market Report also shows that the increase in reductions has had a knock-on effect in other areas of the market – with approximately a third of Q1 withdrawals having undergone a price reduction before exiting the market altogether.
Heather Staff (main picture, right, with brother Tom, Co-Founder of Spectre, says: “The market activity we’re experiencing, especially in relation to reductions and withdrawals, provides agents with huge opportunities to win new and second instructions. In fact, the most successful agents on Spectre are those who utilise the market conditions to their advantage by adapting their marketing strategy.
“Right now, the two most effective and successful Spectre letters are sent following a withdrawal and reduction – mirroring the key trends of the Q1 housing market. It’s proof that these types of vendors are still highly motivated to sell, and they should be your prime target audience when it comes to prospecting.”
TOUCH POINTS
With more touch points than any other supplier, Spectre enables agents to not only target a property immediately after withdrawal but up to 24 months after the event using ‘The Vault’. This allows agents to nurture that prospective vendor and influence them to rejoin the market with their agency, with significant success.
Voted as the Best Instruction Generation Tool for two years running, Spectre transforms the process of on and off-market prospecting, helping agents target the vendors most likely to instruct in their area. In fact, Spectre’s powerful suite of marketing tools is proven to grow an agent’s market share by an average of 34% in just 24 months.
Every quarter, Spectre releases their Market Report to agents across the UK, providing valuable insights into market shifts. Alongside analysis on withdrawals and reductions, Spectre’s new Market Report also identifies key patterns and trends in new listings, fall-throughs, sales agreed, regional performance, and more.
Agents who are interested in getting a copy of Spectre’s Q1 Market Report can do so here.
