By the Location Location team – independent in Hackney for 20 years, and currently ranked the UK’s Best Overall Estate Agency. Published October 2026.
Quick answer: More than 3,000 UK asking prices are being cut every single day, and 34% of homes on the market have now been reduced at least once. Homes that get cut take around 119 days to find a buyer, against 39 days for those that don’t. If you’re thinking of moving in Hackney or Stoke Newington, you have four realistic options: move now at a price the evidence supports, use a pre-market launch strategy, sell first and buy second, or stay put on purpose. If you’re already on the market and stuck, the fix is almost always one of four things: price, presentation, positioning or proceedability. Our own clients are still selling in this market because the price was right on day one, not because the market is easy.
If you’ve scrolled a property portal lately and noticed how many homes have a little “reduced” tag on them, you’re not imagining it. Rightmove’s latest figures, reported by the BBC, show that more than 3,000 asking prices were being slashed every day in September. That works out at well over 90,000 reductions in a single month.
It’s the kind of statistic that makes people nervous about moving at all. It shouldn’t stop you moving, but it should change how you go about it. This piece is for two groups of people: those who are thinking about moving and weighing up their options, and those who are already on the market, watching the weeks tick by, and wondering what to do next. We’ll also be specific about what this means for sellers in Hackney and Stoke Newington, because the picture here is not the same as the headline.
What is actually happening in the UK property market right now?
Rightmove’s data for September and October 2026 paints a market with plenty of choice, nervous buyers and rising borrowing costs. 34% of homes for sale have had a price reduction, close to the 36% peak recorded in September 2023. The average reduction is almost 7%, which is around £21,000 on a typically priced home. The number of homes for sale is the highest for this time of year since 2014, and while new listings are up 3% on last year, sales agreed are down 8% and new buyer enquiries are down 9%.
Mortgage costs are doing a lot of the damage. The average two-year fixed rate has risen to 5.55%, up from 5.29% the month before and from 4.25% before the conflict in the Middle East began in February. Rightmove estimates that adds roughly £250 a month to a typical new mortgage. As Rightmove’s property expert Colleen Babcock put it, the rapid rise in mortgage rates is really beginning to hit buyers’ budgets.
London is its own story. Asking prices rose 2.5% in October, but that followed a 6% fall across July and August, and they remain 1.7% below this time last year. 38% of London properties have had a price reduction, and homes in the capital take an average of 78 days to find a buyer. Marc von Grundherr of Benham and Reeves, speaking about London sellers, made a point worth remembering: stronger asking prices don’t necessarily translate into stronger achieved prices.
Why does a price reduction hurt so much?
Because of what it does to buyers’ behaviour, not just to your bank balance. The average cut of around £21,000 is painful enough, but the bigger cost is time. Reduced homes are taking an average of 119 days to find a buyer, compared with 39 days for homes that went to market at a price that worked. That is roughly 80 extra days of holding costs, uncertainty and fewer people looking.
Rightmove’s Colleen Babcock explains why: once a home has been on the market for a while and then has a price reduction, some buyers start asking questions. In a market with this much choice, first impressions matter, and competitive pricing from day one of marketing is critical to capitalise on the initial burst of buyer interest. Michael Donnachie of Michael Anthony Village Estates put it more simply: the best price is usually the first price.
We covered the root cause in our earlier piece, Why 44% of UK Homes Never Sell – And How to Fix It. Zoopla’s research found that 44% of homes listed over the past three years failed to find a buyer, that 34% of unsuccessful sellers admitted in hindsight that their asking price had been too high, and that 53% of successful sellers had to reduce their price at some point. A price cut is rarely a change of strategy. It is usually the correction of a first price that was wrong.
If you’re thinking of moving: what are your options right now?
There is no single right answer, and anyone who tells you there is has not met your circumstances. But there are four realistic routes, and each suits a different situation.
Option 1: Move now, priced to the evidence. If you have a reason to move, such as a growing family, a job, a change in circumstances, then waiting for a perfect market rarely pays. With stock at a twelve-year high for the time of year, buyers can afford to be choosy, so the sellers getting deals done are the ones who price realistically from the first day. If you’re upsizing, the numbers may well be in your favour, and we explored exactly why in Falling House Prices? Why Upsizers Should Be Celebrating.
Option 2: Use a pre-market launch strategy. You do not have to put a board up and go live on the portals to be ready. Get your valuation, instruct your solicitor, sort your mortgage in principle, and let your agent introduce your home to buyers who are already looking and already registered. We call this our pre-market launch strategy, and it is how 29% of the homes we sell are agreed off-market, before they ever appear in the public scroll of reduced tags. The results are worth knowing about: homes sold or sale agreed during the pre-market launch process often achieve a higher percentage of their marketing price, in excess of 100%, and are 20% more likely to go through to exchange and completion. It also puts you in a proceedable position, ready to move quickly the moment the right buyer appears.
Option 3: Sell first, buy second. If you are in a position to sell first and then buy, or to sell and rent in between, you remove the risk of being caught holding two properties in a slow market. It is not for everyone, and it takes planning, but Sell First or Buy First? The Right Answer for 2026 sets out when it works and when it does not.
Option 4: Stay put, on purpose. This is a legitimate choice, and sometimes it is the right one. If the numbers do not stack up at today’s mortgage rates, staying and improving your home is a perfectly sensible decision. The key word is “on purpose”: make it a decision, with a date to review it, rather than a drift. Rightmove has noted that some new buyers may be waiting to see the detail of the Your First Home scheme in this month’s Budget, so conditions can change quickly once there is more clarity. A mortgage broker can tell you what you can borrow at today’s rates, and it is worth having that conversation before you decide.
What should you do if your home is already on the market and not selling?
First, work out what the market is telling you, because each pattern points to a different fix.
Few enquiries and few viewings usually means price or presentation. If buyers are not even coming to look, the price is probably placing you in the wrong set of search results, or your photographs and listing are not doing the work. This is where first impressions matter most.
Plenty of viewings but no offers usually means price against condition. Buyers are interested enough to visit but are comparing you to something better value. Listen to the feedback, because it is free market research.
Offers, but all too low, means the market is giving you its answer. With buyers watching their budgets closely, bids are coming in lower. The question is whether the gap between the offers and your price is a negotiation or a signal.
An accepted offer that is stuck is a progression problem, not a price problem. If you have a buyer but the sale is drifting, the answer is proactive sales progression and a conveyancer who communicates, not a lower price.
If the evidence points to price, there are a few principles worth following. Reduce once and decisively rather than in small drips, because a series of tiny cuts trains buyers to wait for the next one, and a cut needs to be big enough to move you into a different set of searches. Price reductions are visible to buyers on the portals, so a relaunch only works if there is something really new about the price or the presentation. Timing matters too: in our experience, reducing works up to around week 7, and after that a fresh start with a new agent is 37% more likely to sell than a reduced listing that has already been on the market for months. And ask your agent hard questions: what is the comparable evidence for the price now, what is their fall-through rate, and are you locked into a long contract that removes any urgency from them?
Why are some Hackney and Stoke Newington sellers still selling in this market?
A note on what we mean before we answer: when we talk about Hackney sellers here, we mean our own clients, the homes we have marketed ourselves, not the borough as a whole. We are not claiming that everyone in Hackney and Stoke Newington is finding this easy. Plenty are not.
But our own numbers tell a different story from the national headline. Across the homes we take on, 90% or more go on to have a sale agreed, and 88% of those go on to exchange contracts, an abortive rate of around 12%, against 27% in Inner London. On average we are achieving north of 101% of the marketing price. And 29% of the homes we sell are agreed off-market.
None of that is luck, and none of it is a secret. It comes down to a handful of habits that are as available to any seller, anywhere, as they are to ours.
We price to attract, not to hope. We use what we call a marketing price: a price designed to bring as many buyers as possible to the listing, paired with the words “offers in excess of”, so that the conversation starts at the bottom and moves up, not at the top and moves down. A top-down asking price invites negotiation in the wrong direction. A bottom-up marketing price invites competition. It is the opposite of the instinct that produces 3,000 price cuts a day.
We know the market, street by street. We know which properties in Stoke Newington and Hackney are reducing, which are withdrawing, and which buyers are actively looking and what they can afford. That is the kind of knowledge you cannot get from a portal, and it is why we can tell a seller early whether a number will work.
We have relationships on both sides. Buyers and sellers call us first, which is what makes our pre-market launch strategy work, and why 29% of our sales happen before a property is ever on the public portals. In a market with this much visible stock, being introduced to a buyer who is already looking is worth far more than being one more listing in the scroll.
We treat a sale agreed as the halfway point. A dedicated sales progression team and a conveyancer who over-communicates are as important to getting a sale over the line as the price is to getting it under offer.
If you want an honest read on where your own home sits, whether you are still deciding or already on the market and unsure, we are always happy to have that conversation, with no pressure and no obligation.
Frequently asked questions
Is now a good time to sell a house in Hackney and Stoke Newington?
It depends on your circumstances and on how your home is priced. Nationally, stock is at its highest for this time of year since 2014 and buyers have plenty of choice, so homes priced realistically from day one are the ones selling. In London, 38% of homes have had a price reduction and the average home takes 78 days to find a buyer. If you need to move, a well-priced home can still sell; if you have flexibility, a pre-market launch strategy, where your home is introduced to registered buyers before it goes public, is a sensible alternative.
Should I reduce my asking price if my home has not sold?
If the evidence from your viewings and offers points to price, yes, and earlier is better than later. In our experience, reducing works up to around week 7 on the market, so do it once and decisively rather than in small drips, with a cut large enough to put you in front of a different set of buyers. After week 7 the picture changes. A home that has been on the market for months and reduced along the way carries that history with it, and buyers start asking why. Our own data shows that once you are past week 7, you are 37% more likely to sell by giving the property to a new agent and benefiting from the power of new, than by carrying on with a reduced listing that has already been on the market for months. The average UK reduction is almost 7%, or about £21,000, and reduced homes take around 119 days to sell against 39 for those that were not cut, so timing matters as much as the size of the cut.
How long does it take to sell a house in London right now?
Rightmove’s October 2026 data shows homes in London take an average of 78 days to find a buyer. Across the UK, homes that have had a price reduction take around 119 days, compared with 39 days for homes marketed without one. After a buyer is found, reaching exchange of contracts currently takes around 4.5 months nationally.
What is the difference between an asking price and a marketing price?
An asking price is the figure a seller hopes to achieve, and it tends to invite negotiation downwards. A marketing price is set deliberately to attract as many buyers as possible, usually paired with “offers in excess of”, so offers start from the bottom and build upwards. The aim is competition between buyers rather than negotiation with one.
Is it better to sell first or buy first in a slow market?
Selling first reduces the risk of owning two properties at once, and can make you a stronger buyer because you are proceedable. Buying first gives certainty on your next home but carries more financial risk if your own sale takes longer than expected. The right choice depends on your finances, your timeline and your mortgage, and a mortgage broker can help you assess the risk.
What is a pre-market launch strategy, and what does it mean when a home is sold off-market?
An off-market sale is agreed before the property is advertised on the public property portals, usually by an agent introducing it to buyers already registered with them. It can mean less visible competition but a quieter, faster process, and it is one way sellers avoid the risk of a long, public listing that ends in price reductions. Around 29% of the homes Location Location sell are agreed off-market, through what we call our pre-market launch strategy. Homes sold or sale agreed during that process often achieve a higher percentage of their marketing price, in excess of 100%, and are 20% more likely to go through to exchange and completion.
Sources: Rightmove House Price Index, October 2026, and Rightmove price reduction data for September 2026, as reported by the BBC and Property Industry Eye (19 October 2026); Rightmove commentary via The Negotiator (19 October 2026); Zoopla analysis via Property Industry Eye (May 2026); TwentyEA and TwentyCi fall-through data via The Negotiator and Property Industry Eye (2026); Location Location internal sales data (2026). Figures for Hackney and Stoke Newington refer to Location Location’s own clients, not the borough as a whole. This piece follows on from our earlier articles Why 44% of UK Homes Never Sell – And How to Fix It, Sell First or Buy First? The Right Answer for 2026 and Falling House Prices? Why Upsizers Should Be Celebrating.
