Cash buyers are securing discounts of up to £86,000 from sellers who are looking for an easy sale without the complexity of a mortgage lender being involved, new analysis suggests.
Research by estate agency and lettings group Lomond looked at more than 6,000 property listings to find those which specified “cash buyers only” and compared the asking price to that of the average sold price in that region.
It found that on average, the asking price of these properties comes in at £257,513, a discount of 17% or £52,059, compared to the wider sold price across England.
But, cash buyers in some regions are getting much bigger discounts.
In Yorkshire and the Humber, the average asking price for cash-buyer properties is 25% less than the average sold price for the region, amounting to a discount of £54,043.
In the South East, the average asking price offered to cash buyers is around 22% below the wider regional average sold price, but due to higher house prices this equates to a discount of £85,979.
The East Midlands has the highest share of properties on the market that stipulate “cash buyers only”, with the region accounting for 29% of all such listings in England.
Cash buyers in the West Midlands can expect an average discount of 20%, worth £51,961.
London is home to the smallest percentage discount at 8%, but as it commands the highest house prices in England, this amounts to £41,967.
Lomond chief executive Ed Phillips says: “Cash buyer status has always carried an immense amount of weight within the UK property market as it allows sellers to dramatically reduce the time associated with selling a home.
“So whilst we’ve now seen a far greater degree of stability return to the property market following the initial hold and subsequent reductions to the base rate, it’s clear that some sellers are still more than happy to offer significant discounts in order to secure a cash buyer.”
