How to price your property: the data-driven approach

Pricing your property correctly is the single most important decision you'll make when selling. Set it too high and your listing sits on the market, accumulates days-on-market stigma, and you eventually sell for less than you would have with a realistic price from the start. Set it too low and you leave money on the table. Here's how to price with data rather than optimism.

Step 1: Find comparable sold prices — not asking prices

The most important data point is what similar properties have actually sold for, not what sellers are asking. Asking prices are aspirational; sold prices are the market's verdict. Use HM Land Registry (accessible via Rightmove and Zoopla's sold prices sections) to find properties of similar size, type, age and condition that sold within the last six months within a half-mile radius.

Aim for at least five to eight comparables. If you can't find enough because your property type is unusual, widen the search radius or time period, but weight recent and local data most heavily.

Step 2: Adjust for your specific property

Raw comparables rarely match your property exactly. You need to adjust for the differences. Common adjustments include:

• Garden: A large south-facing garden commands a premium of 5–15% over a comparable without one in most UK markets
• Parking: A garage or driveway can add £5,000–£20,000 depending on location
• Condition: A fully modernised kitchen and bathroom adds value; a property needing full refurbishment needs to reflect that discount
• Floor level / views: In flats, upper floors with views command premiums over ground-floor equivalents
• EPC rating: Properties with an EPC of A or B increasingly command premiums as buyers factor in energy costs

Step 3: Assess current demand in your area

Use Rightmove's "time to sell" data or the Cavendish Knight AI Market Intelligence tool to understand how quickly similar properties in your postcode are selling. If properties are going to Sold STC within 2–3 weeks, demand is strong and you can price at or above the median. If properties are sitting for 60+ days, the market is telling you something.

Properties priced within 5% of their eventual sale price sell in an average of 38 days. Properties priced more than 10% above market take an average of 94 days — and ultimately sell for less than they would have at a realistic opening price.

Step 4: Understand pricing psychology

Buyers search in price brackets. They might search "up to £350,000" or "up to £400,000" — not "up to £375,000". Pricing at £349,950 captures everyone searching up to £350,000 and all those searching up to £400,000. Pricing at £355,000 captures only those searching up to £400,000 and loses everyone in the £300,000–£350,000 bracket.

In practice this means if your honest market value is in the £340,000–£360,000 range, pricing at £349,000 or £349,950 is likely to generate more enquiries than £355,000 — even though the latter is only £5,000 higher.

Step 5: Build in negotiation room — but not too much

It's reasonable to price slightly above your minimum acceptable figure to leave room for negotiation. But "slightly" means 2–5%, not 15–20%. Significantly overpriced properties don't attract buyers who then negotiate down — they attract no enquiries at all, because buyers assume the seller is unrealistic and don't bother.

Step 6: Review and adjust

If your listing has received fewer than 5 viewing requests in the first three weeks, or fewer than 15 online enquiries in the first week, the price is likely too high. A price reduction of 3–5% at this point — combined with refreshed photography — often reinvigorates interest. The worst outcome is leaving the listing at the wrong price for months: buyers can see how long a property has been on the market, and it raises questions about why it hasn't sold.

Cavendish Knight's AI Market Intelligence tool monitors comparable listings in real time and alerts you when your price is diverging from the market.