The Market is Alive – Buyers are just more Selective

If you’ve been watching the property market and wondering why things feel slower than they did a couple of years ago, you’re not imagining it. Homes are sitting on the market longer. Price reductions are more common. Some sales are falling through. But the conclusion many sellers jump to, that buyers have gone away, is wrong. Buyers are still out there. They’ve just become considerably harder to impress.

This matters whether you’re selling or buying. For sellers, it changes how a property needs to be presented and priced. For buyers, it means the market is working in your favour in ways it hasn’t for years. Understanding what’s actually driving the shift helps both sides make better decisions.

What’s Changed in the Market

The UK property market spent much of 2021 to 2023 operating under conditions that were, by any historical measure, abnormal. Low mortgage rates, restricted supply, and intense competition pushed buyers into rapid decisions, frequent overbidding, and a willingness to overlook problems they’d ordinarily have walked away from.

That environment has gone. Mortgage rates rose sharply from late 2022 onwards and, while they’ve eased from their peak, they remain materially higher than the near-zero conditions buyers were borrowing at three years ago. Affordability is tighter, and buyers know it. Every pound they spend on a property has to work harder, so they’re thinking more carefully before committing.

At the same time, the supply of available properties has increased. More homes on the market means buyers have genuine alternatives. When a buyer can choose between several similar properties, the one with damp in the utility room or a boiler that’s on its last legs doesn’t get the benefit of the doubt. It gets passed over.

The result is a market that looks superficially quiet but is actually functioning quite normally, just on buyers’ terms rather than sellers’.

What Buyers Are Actually Doing

Selective doesn’t mean inactive. Buyers are registering, viewing, and making offers. What’s changed is the standard a property has to meet before they’ll proceed.

A few patterns stand out. First, buyers are conducting more thorough due diligence. Survey findings that would have been brushed aside in a competitive market are now treated as genuine reasons to renegotiate or withdraw. Structural issues, outdated electrics, roof conditions, drainage problems: these are no longer things buyers absorb into their offer price and move on. They’re deal-breakers, or at minimum, they trigger requests for price reductions or remediation before exchange.

Second, buyers are responding strongly to pricing accuracy. A home priced a little above what the evidence supports doesn’t just attract lower offers. It attracts fewer viewings, because buyers and their agents are more price-literate than they’ve ever been. Overpriced homes sit. When they eventually reduce, they’ve often accumulated enough days on the market to make buyers suspicious about what’s wrong with them.

Third, presentation is doing more work. A property that photographs well, shows cleanly, and feels ready to move into is moving faster than one that needs imagination. Buyers aren’t unwilling to spend on a home, but they’re less willing to buy someone else’s problem.

What This Means If You’re Selling

The single most important thing a seller can do in this market is price accurately from the start. Not optimistically, accurately. An agent who flatters you with a high valuation to win the instruction is not doing you a favour. Overpricing costs time, and time in this market costs money, because extended marketing periods invite price reductions and signal to buyers that something is off.

Beyond price, preparation matters more than it did. That doesn’t necessarily mean a full renovation. It means fixing the things a buyer’s surveyor will flag: the cracked render, the dripping tap, the gate that won’t close, the boiler has been serviced. It means presenting the property cleanly and giving buyers the information they need upfront rather than waiting for them to ask.

Propertymark guidance consistently emphasises that sellers who instruct an agent early, prepare the property properly, and price to evidence, rather than aspiration, achieve better outcomes than those who test the market at a higher figure and adjust later.

Fall-through rates in the UK have been a persistent concern. When a sale collapses after survey, both parties lose time and money. Sellers who address known issues before marketing, or who disclose them honestly and price accordingly, are significantly less likely to see transactions unravel at the survey stage.

Pricing to sell versus pricing to test

There’s a meaningful difference between these two approaches, and it’s worth being honest about which one you’re taking. Pricing to sell means setting a figure consistent with recent comparable transactions, one that gives buyers confidence the property is worth their time. Pricing to test means setting a higher figure to see what happens.

Testing has a cost. In a market where buyers are cautious and have options, an overpriced property doesn’t generate the competitive tension that might have justified the approach in 2021. It generates disinterest.

What This Means If You’re Buying

The shift in market conditions is, in straightforward terms, good news for buyers. You have more properties to choose from, more time to make decisions, and considerably more negotiating power than you would have had two or three years ago.

Use that position sensibly. Get a proper survey, not just a mortgage valuation. Understand what you’re buying before you commit. If a survey flags issues, treat that information as a starting point for a conversation about price, not as a reason to panic and withdraw, unless the issues are genuinely serious.

On pricing: don’t assume that because the market has softened, every seller is desperate. Well-priced properties in good condition are still selling, and selling reasonably quickly. The selectivity cuts both ways. If a home is well presented and priced fairly, expect some competition. If it’s been sitting on the market for months and has had price reductions, there’s probably a reason, and it’s worth finding out what that reason is before you make an offer.

Mortgage rates remain a significant factor in what you can afford. It’s worth speaking to a whole-of-market mortgage broker rather than going directly to your bank. The difference between the best available rate and your current bank’s standard rate can be substantial, and in a market where affordability is already stretched, that gap matters.

The survey question

In a competitive market, buyers sometimes waive or downgrade surveys to make their offer more attractive. That logic has less force now. Sellers need buyers more than they did, and a buyer who insists on a full structural survey is not likely to lose the property to someone who doesn’t. Get the survey. It exists to protect you.

MoneyHelper provides clear guidance on the different types of survey available and what each one covers, which is worth reading before you instruct.

The Taunton Picture

Taunton reflects the broader national picture, with some local nuance. The town has continued to attract buyers relocating from Bristol and London, drawn by lower prices, good rail connections, and the quality of the surrounding countryside. That demand provides a degree of insulation against the sharpest cooling seen in some urban markets.

But selectivity is just as present here as anywhere else. Properties that are well prepared and priced to evidence are moving. Those that aren’t are sitting. The gap in outcome between a well-handled sale and a poorly handled one is wider than it’s been in years, which makes the quality of advice you receive at the outset more consequential, not less.

The Headline, Simply Put

The market hasn’t stopped. It’s rebalanced. Buyers have more power, more choice, and more patience than they’ve had since before the pandemic. Sellers who understand that and respond to it, with accurate pricing, proper preparation, and honest disclosure, are still achieving good results. Those who are waiting for the market to return to 2021 conditions are likely to be waiting a long time.

For buyers, the conditions are the most favourable in a decade. The opportunity is real. Use it carefully.

If you’re thinking about selling in Taunton and would like an honest assessment of what your home is worth in the current market, we can help. For buyers looking for available properties or wanting to register so you hear about new instructions before they go live, contact us and we’ll make sure you’re in the right position when the right property comes up.