A large segment of the market may be shooting itself in the foot with unrealistically high asking prices.

While the average sales prices in the southern suburbs for 2015 has been a mere 9.5% below list price – much better than the 2014’s when it was 15.2% – the current statistic is heavily influenced by the quick movement of well-priced properties , and is not an indication of realistic valuations across the market as a whole.

Property valuations are not a science, and it is very easy for them to be manipulated for the wrong reasons. Agents competing for mandates will often artificially inflate their valuations, to a greater or lesser extent, to give owners the impression that they can sell the property for more than their rivals. Unfortunately, this can seriously affect the saleability of a property, and has done so for several properties in the southern suburbs

Overpricing a property does far more damage than just slowing down the sales process through over exposure. When a house has been on the market for months at a time, buyers pick up on it. It loses desirability – probably because the assumption is that there must be something wrong with it for it to stay on the market so long.

And often the agent that convinced you your house is worth so much in the first place will lose interest in properly marketing it due to the lack of response, or bring you what you think is a poor offer, when it is your marketing price that is the problem. You should not be afraid to get some other valuations in this instance, and perhaps think about giving another agent a mandate at a price more realistic for the market.