If you have ever thought about selling your Baldock home, chances are you have been tempted to push the asking price a little higher than advised. After all, it’s your biggest tax free asset. A few extra thousand on the asking price of your Baldock home sounds like a smart move, doesn’t it?
But here’s the rub: in property, chasing too much can often mean getting nothing at all.
Since the start of 2020, over 706 homes, listed for sale in Baldock were withdrawn from the market unsold. And while some may blame timing or market conditions, in many cases the underlying problem is much simpler, the asking price was too high from the outset.
Let us explore how this has unfolded, why it’s happening, and most importantly, what you can do as a Baldock homeowner to avoid falling into the same trap.
The Temptation to Overprice and Why it Backfires
When estate agents come round to pitch for your business, it’s not uncommon to hear different figures. One might suggest £285,000. Another £300,000. Then someone walks in and says £325,000, no hesitation, no caveats.
It’s flattering. It’s exciting. And it’s often a trap.
Some agents know exactly what figure will win your instruction, even if it has little grounding in what the market will pay. They don’t need to sell the home straight away they just need it on the books.
Once it’s listed onto the market, often tying in the homeowner to a sole agency contract for 20 or even 26 weeks, they can work on reducing the price over time. Meanwhile, your ideal buyer may have dismissed it from the get-go as overpriced.
The Baldock Numbers Don’t Lie
Let’s look at the hard data for the SG7 postcode district. Of the homes that left Baldock estate agents’ books, what percentage of them withdrew from the market without selling?
2020
- Of the 325 Baldock homes that came off agent’s books:
- 178 of them sold & exchanged contracts (i.e. the homeowners moved),
- and the remaining 147 of them didn’t sell (i.e. 45.2% failed to move home).
2021
- Of the 363 Baldock homes that came off agent’s books:
- 244 of them sold & exchanged contracts,
- and the remaining 119 of them didn’t sell (i.e. 32.8% failed to move home).
2022
- Of the 336 Baldock homes that came off agent’s books:
- 239 of them sold & exchanged contracts,
- and the remaining 97 of them didn’t sell (i.e. 28.9% failed to move home).
2023
- Of the 294 Baldock homes that came off agent’s books:
- 180 of them sold & exchanged contracts,
- and the remaining 114 of them didn’t sell (i.e. 38.8% failed to move home).
2024
- Of the 309 Baldock homes that came off agent’s books:
- 156 of them sold & exchanged contracts,
- and the remaining 153 of them didn’t sell (i.e. 49.5% failed to move home).
2025 YTD
- Of the 160 Baldock homes that came off agent’s books:
- 84 of them sold & exchanged contracts,
- and the remaining 76 of them didn’t sell (i.e. 47.5% failed to move home).
In total, that’s 706 homes in Baldock since January 2020 that came to market yet never sold. Most of those were overvalued and withdrawn in frustration. Nearly all were likely overpriced in comparison to what buyers were willing to pay at the time.
This is not a coincidence. It’s a pattern.