Quickly withdrawing a property from the market can enhance its probabilities of promoting later, in response to new knowledge from property analytics agency TwentyEA.
The analysis reveals that over half (53.4%) of residential property gross sales in 2024 had been agreed throughout the first 5 weeks of an inventory, with practically three-quarters (75.7%) occurring throughout the first three months. After that, the probability of a sale drops sharply—to simply 14.5%.
This development means that if a property doesn’t promote early, taking it off the marketplace for a interval could also be simpler than protecting it listed long-term.
In 2024, round 550,000 properties had been withdrawn from the market. Of these, 90,000 had been relisted after a break of three months or extra. Curiously, whether or not the relisted property returned at a lower cost had little affect on the result:
+ 49,000 had been relisted at a decreased value, with a 42.4% likelihood of promoting.
+ 41,000 had been relisted on the identical or a better value, with a 42.1% likelihood of promoting.
The findings recommend that point off the market could also be as influential as value changes in terms of bettering sale prospects.
Per week-by-week breakdown of gross sales development additional reinforces the significance of early momentum: 59.4% of all listings that bought in 2024 agreed a sale within the preliminary weeks, with diminishing returns the longer a property remained unsold.
Katy Billany, government director at TwentyEA, mentioned: “A 42% probability of sale in each instances is considerably greater than the 14.5% likelihood of promoting if a vendor had not withdrawn their property.
“It’s very fascinating that it makes nearly no distinction as as to whether or not the value was lowered and goes to reveal that timing and market demand typically matter greater than minor value changes. That mentioned, when the property is re-listed, the value ought to at all times be set strategically to mirror present market situations.
“Our evaluation means that if time is just not a vital issue, sellers ought to contemplate withdrawing their property from the market if it hasn’t bought throughout the first few weeks. Permitting a relaxation interval of not less than three months can considerably enhance the probabilities of success.”
Additional evaluation by TwentyEA discovered it usually takes 123 days from itemizing to change and 200 days to completion.
| From itemizing to supply accepted (days) | Itemizing to change | Itemizing to completion | |
| 2019 | 75 | 90 | 165 |
| 2020 | 80 | 97 | 177 |
| 2021 | 58 | 101 | 159 |
| 2022 | 42 | 129 | 171 |
| 2023 | 61 | 121 | 182 |
| 2024 | 71 | 120 | 191 |
| 2025 | 77 | 123 | 200 |
Knowledge covers January 1 to August 31, 2025
Billany added: “A median of 123 days from itemizing to change and 200 days to completion reveals simply how drawn-out the shifting course of has turn out to be.
“Streamlining this timeline by higher communication and upfront info would make an actual distinction for each consumers and sellers.”
