From stale to sold: How to revive buyer interest as old listings flood the market

According to recent data from SQM Research, old listings, defined as six months or older, increased 2.3 per cent nationally across September, now making up 28 per cent of listings nationwide.

Melbourne had the highest percentage of stale listings, at 21 per cent, with Officer South, southeast of the city, seeing 53 per cent of homes on the market for six months or more.

Barry Plant Pakenham director Matt Ketteringham said buyer demand remained in the area, but purchasers were much more selective and cautious amid affordability pressures.

“I think it’s their lack of confidence with all the changes and the interest rates; buyers are very cautious to commit,” he told REB.

Ketteringham said stale listings could be linked to multiple factors, including vendors' management and experience.

He said many sellers still expected to sell their properties for prices seen before the slowdown; some areas, such as Officer South, were flooded with smaller, inexperienced agencies rather than recognised brands.

To keep listings from becoming stale, Ketteringham said it was important to educate vendors on pricing, broaden the buyer pool with strategic marketing, and proactively engage buyers.

Here’s how to do it:

Broaden the buyer pool

According to Ketteringham, the most important factor agents should focus on to revive stale listings was marketing, such as improving social media content and broadening their audience.

“It's video content, it's making it go viral, it's making sure it's seen by everybody, shared by everybody and making it easily accessible in this market for buyers to view,” he said.

“It's really just not being a one-dimensional agent; you've got to adapt and shift and be relentless in marketing and strategy until the property is sold.

In addition, Ketteringham said increasing the number of inspection times can make the property more accessible for buyers, rather than requiring them to ring the agent to schedule one.

He added that bigger brands could leverage their networks and reach out to agencies in higher price tiers to help engage prospective buyers looking for more affordable options.

“We’re very fortunate that we can utilise the out-of-area offices that are at a higher price point to present value to our clients there to get them and draw them to a different suburb,” he said.

“You really want to be attracting your buyers who still want a big home, but they may have to move 10, 15, 20 minutes out of their radius to still fit their budget.”

Pricing

Ketteringham also said that agents can help vendors price their properties realistically by paying attention to buyer feedback.

“It's understanding what they need and making sure that they've got offers to consider because you're never going to know what your home is worth until you've got offers on the table to consider,” he said.

Ketteringham said that if the vendor weren’t receiving enough offers at a certain price, it was up to the agent to make the right adjustments and help sellers understand the changing market.

However, when listings become old, Ketteringham said it sometimes wasn’t just about adjusting the pricing, but ensuring the presentation maximised the property’s appeal.

‘It may be a slight tweak, or it may be a new photo shoot. It may be something that makes the property look fresh, has a different angle, different look, different feel.

“If that's not visually attractive from day one, you're not going to be opening your audience fully.”

Ketteringham said agents should also avoid giving too much away in listing photos, giving buyers a sense of curiosity that prompts them to schedule inspections.

Be proactive

To maximise long-term success, Ketteringham said agents needed to be proactive in reaching out to buyers and earning their trust.

“A lot of agents these days just rely on putting their properties on Realestate.com or Domain and waiting for an inquiry, but that's because they've probably only been agents in a really good market,” he said.

“We call them number takers where they're not trained to find a buyer; they're trained to do an open home, hand out a contract and sell the property.”

Ketteringham said agents needed to engage buyers, showing energy and enthusiasm while demonstrating market knowledge.

“If you're asked a question, answer the question with honesty, and if you don't know it, find the information and follow up; don’t overpromise and under-deliver all the things that buyers trust in,” he said.

“They don't want to be misled or given information that's not correct, because as soon as you lose that trust, it's very hard to negotiate on a property because they won't trust the agent they're buying from.”