House Not Selling in London? Price Cut vs Relaunch (2026 Data)
If a London listing isn't selling, a price cut isn't automatically the answer. Rightmove's latest data shows homes that never need a reduction find a buyer in 39 days on average, against 119 days for homes that get cut. In London, 38% of listings have already been reduced.
A cut fixes the number. It doesn't fix the first impression buyers formed and scrolled past. The smarter move is to diagnose first: is this a price problem, a presentation problem, or both? Then relaunch with everything fixed at once.
Below: how to tell which problem you have, what a proper relaunch involves, what it costs next to a cut, and when new photos won't help at all.
How many London homes are stuck on the market right now?
More than at any point in over a decade. Supply is high, mortgages are dearer and buyers can afford to wait, so overpriced or poorly presented stock gets skipped.
Measure (autumn 2026) | Figure | Source |
|---|---|---|
UK listings cut per day, September | 3,000+, the most since September 2011 | |
Days to find a buyer: never cut vs cut | 39 vs 119 | |
Average UK price cut | 6.6%, about £24,200 | |
London listings with at least one cut | 38% | |
Average time to find a buyer in London | 78 days | |
Sales agreed within the first 4 weeks | 41.8%, falling to a 14.5% chance after 12 weeks unsold | |
New listings in September that were relists | 1 in 4, and 6 in 10 of those came back cheaper |
The pattern is clear. Most homes that sell do it in the first month. After that, every week makes a buyer more likely to ask what's wrong with it.
For the borough-by-borough picture, see our London property market report for autumn 2026.
Why does a listing go stale?
Usually it's price, presentation, or both, and the listing's own numbers tell you which. Rightmove Plus shows detail views and enquiries against similar listings, so start there before anyone touches the price.
What you're seeing | Likely cause | What fixes it |
|---|---|---|
Few clicks compared with similar listings | The lead photo and price aren't winning in search results | A new lead image, and a check that the price sits in the right search bracket |
Clicks but few enquiries | The gallery, floor plan or description don't answer buyers' questions | A full reshoot, a floor plan, a video tour |
Viewings but no offers | The home doesn't match what buyers expected, or the price is wrong | A price conversation. New marketing won't fix this |
Offers well below asking | Price | Price |
The first row matters more than agents tend to think. Rightmove says over 70% of its traffic is on mobile, where buyers see only the first photo in search results (Rightmove). If that one image is a grey street shot from March, you're losing buyers before they see the price.
[Add image: a strong lead photo from one of your shoots, or a before/after from a listing that has already sold, with permission]
Should you cut the price or relaunch?
If the price is wrong, cut it once, properly, and relaunch alongside it. What doesn't work is a string of small cuts on the same tired listing.
Each cut tells the market the vendor is under pressure, and the listing looks exactly as it did when buyers first skipped it. Rightmove's own property expert notes that a reduction after a long stretch on the market makes some buyers ask questions, even when nothing is wrong with the home. As one agent put it in the same Rightmove release, "you are only new to the market once" (Rightmove).
A relaunch is the closest thing to getting that first day back. New lead image, new gallery, new description, and the right price, all at the same moment. Buyers who dismissed it see something that looks different, not just cheaper.
Property photography, London: blended interiors, straight verticals, floor plan included. From £125, usually back within 24 hours. Book a shoot →
How do you relaunch a stale listing?
Five steps, and the order matters. Fixing the photos while the price is still wrong just shows buyers an overpriced home more clearly.
Read the data first. Compare detail views and enquiries with similar listings in Rightmove Plus, and go back over viewing feedback. Decide whether you're fixing price, presentation or both.
Agree the price before the shoot. Relaunch at the number you expect to achieve, not a number to test the market. Testing is how the listing went stale.
Reshoot, don't recycle. A new lead image does the most work. Shoot in the season the home looks best in, at the time of day the main rooms get their light, and drop any image that dates the listing, like a bare winter garden in May. Here's how to prepare a home for the shoot.
Add what the listing is missing. Rightmove's own research found listings with five or more photos get 11% more leads, floor plans bring 12% more leads, and video adds 8% more views and 6% more leads (Rightmove). If the old listing had no floor plan, add one. Use drone footage where the plot, garden or location is the selling point. More on how many photos a listing needs.
Relaunch everything on the same day. New price, new gallery, rewritten description, and a vertical video tour for social. Then call every buyer on the agent's database who saw the old version.
Property video tours: vertical tours for social from £100, cinematic walkthroughs from £250. See video tours →
Drone photography, London: CAA registered operator, aerials planned case by case around London's airspace. See drone work →
What does a relaunch cost compared with a price cut?
A full media relaunch costs well under 0.1% of a typical London asking price. An average cut costs the vendor tens of thousands.
Option | Typical cost |
|---|---|
Average UK price cut (6.6%) | about £24,200 |
The same 6.6% cut on London's average asking price of £673,942 | about £44,500 (illustration) |
New photos and floor plan | from £125 |
Vertical video tour for social | from £100 |
Cinematic video tour | from £250 |
Cut figures from Rightmove and the October Rightmove index. The London line applies the UK average cut to London's average asking price, so treat it as a guide, not a measured figure. Media prices are our own starting prices.
This isn't an either/or. If the price is wrong, the cut still has to happen. The point is that spending a few hundred pounds on the relaunch makes sure the cut actually gets seen.
When won't new photos help?
When buyers have already been through the door and still said no. Photography wins the click and the viewing. It can't change what people find when they arrive.
New media won't fix:
Plenty of viewings, no offers. Buyers have seen the real thing. That's a price or property conversation.
A price far above recent sold prices. Nearly three-quarters of homes sold this year didn't need a cut at all (Rightmove). If comparables say £850,000, a better gallery at £950,000 just gets skipped more slowly.
Problems buyers find later. A short lease, a busy road or missing paperwork will surface whatever the photos look like.
And don't over-edit to compensate. Images that make a room look bigger or brighter than it is turn viewings into disappointments, and misleading property marketing can fall foul of UK consumer protection law. More on what agents can and can't edit in property photos. Good relaunch photography shows the home at its genuine best.
Frequently asked questions
What's the difference between a price cut and a relaunch?
A price cut changes the number on the existing listing. A relaunch changes the price, photos, description and often adds video, all on the same day, so buyers who skipped it the first time see something new rather than the same listing a bit cheaper.
How much should I reduce my asking price?
The average UK cut in September 2026 was 6.6%, but the right figure comes from recent sold prices nearby, not an average. One decisive cut to the right level works better than several small ones.
Should I take my house off the market and relist it?
Only if something changes. Relisting is common: a quarter of new listings in September had already been on sale that year, and 6 in 10 of those came back cheaper. Relisting the same photos at the same price rarely changes the result.
Do professional photos help a house sell?
They get more buyers to enquire. Rightmove found listings with five or more photos get 11% more leads, and floor plans add 12% more. Price still decides whether those buyers make an offer.
How quickly can a relaunch shoot happen?
Most flats and smaller homes take one to two hours to shoot, and we usually return photos within 24 hours, so a relaunch can go live within days of agreeing the new price.
Relaunching a listing that's gone quiet?
Send us the listing link. We'll tell you straight whether new photos, a floor plan or a video will help, or whether it's a price conversation first. Shoots across London, photos usually back within 24 hours. Marketing a prime home? See our luxury property photography.
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