Breaking Property News 17/07/25
Daily bite-sized proptech and property news in partnership with Proptech-X.
Correct pricing and being “sales ready” now essential for speedy transactions
UK house prices have slipped into a largely unexpected tailspin. Zoopla reports that annual growth dropped to 1.4% in May 2025, while Nationwide observes a 0.8% drop in average value between May and June. Analysts had predicted an increase of 0.1% month-on-month in June, meaning the sudden drop caught many market commentators by surprise.
Sellers have flooded the market over the past year, with Zoopla reporting that the average estate agent now has a stock of 37 homes for sale; a year ago, the figure stood at 32. At the same time, transaction time is lengthening inexorably. Property consultancy TwentyEA reports that it now takes average of 205 days to sell a property in the UK, compared to 195 days a year ago.
Market conditions mean that sellers need to price their homes correctly and do all they can to be “sales ready,” according to Brett Ray, Founding Partner and CEO of Survey Shack, an innovative new app that guides sellers through a home condition assessment.
Brett Ray, Founding Partner & CEO, Survey Shack, comments: “It’s a buyer’s market right now, which means sellers have to work much harder, particularly if they want to sell swiftly. They need to do all they can to ensure their property is sales ready and priced appropriately, including minimising the risk of unexpected survey findings causing transactions to falter over price and fall through.”
Survey Shack is supporting sellers by enabling them to undertake a property inspection much earlier than is traditional during the property sale process. The app enables a seller to quickly and clearly assess the condition of their home, both internally and externally, as well as providing critical property data for the area, such as surface water risk, radon gas information and planning history.
By flagging up any potential issues at an early stage, it enables sellers to price their properties realistically and to have clear, open discussions with estate agents and potential buyers about the condition of the home. This avoids the kind of last-minute surprises that traditional surveys can flag, which can be hugely disruptive and put the entire transaction at risk.
The Survey Shack app guides the seller on how to assess each part of their home and delivers a clear, comprehensive report within minutes of them completing the process. The report not only provides detailed information on the state of the property but also suggested remedial actions and recommendations of specific specialists qualified to undertake them. As such, sellers can move forward in a fully informed manner, ready to make decisions based on the reality of their property’s condition, as well as the reality of the wider market.
Andrew Stanton Executive Editor – moving property and proptech forward. PropTech-X
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