Nearly half of all homes listed for sale in the UK do not sell, according to Zoopla. Analysis of listings on the property portal identified 44% of homes listed in the past three years didn’t attract a buyer.
Out of touch sellers are contributing to the issue, according to Richard Donnell, executive director at Zoopla. “It comes down to a few decisions, starting with understanding what (the) home is actually worth today,” he said. “The average homeowner selling in 2025 had been in their home for nine years, meaning many owners are out of touch with what their home may be worth.”
As a result, property is priced too high at the outset, Zoopla said. Research conducted among more than 2,000 UK adults who listed their home in the past three years found a third (34%) admitted the price the property was listed at was, in hindsight, too high, having thought it was a fair price at the outset.
Among those who did sell, 53% of respondents had to cut their asking price to attract a buyer. Zoopla’s own data identified that the average home sold for 3.5% below the asking price in Q1 2026, equivalent to an average reduction of £18,800.
Further analysis found that for every 5% a home is priced above the local market average, the odds of selling are reduced by around 5%. Homes priced 10% over the local market average see the odds of selling cut by 10%.
A fifth of respondents (21%) admitted they set their asking price according to the amount they need for their new home, not necessarily what the home is worth. Almost two thirds (61%) of sellers viewed other properties before getting a valuation of their own property, and around a third (32%) put in an offer on another home before they understood the value of their own home.
In the under 35 age group, the main reason for selling was trading up to a larger home (44%), while for sellers aged 65 and over the primary motive was downsizing (34%). Trading up requires proceeds from the sale to fund the ongoing purchase; downsizing is often the result of a need to release equity. As a result, only half (52%) of sellers under 35 successfully sold their home, compared with 63% of those aged 65 and over.
The results highlight how different pressures result in different outcomes, Zoopla suggests, and offer a clear lesson for sellers: the asking price for any home has to reflect what buyers in the current market will pay, not what the seller might need to unlock their next move.
