Cash is king as mortgage-free buyers enjoy bigger discounts

Cash buyers are securing discounts as high as £88,000 since the property market started to wobble following last September’s catastrophic mini budget, according to research by House Buyer Bureau.

The property firm’s analysis found that across Britain, the average cash buyer is now paying £278,910 – some £29,235 less than those purchasing with a mortgage. The research also shows that this discount has increased by £1,624 when compared to the three months prior to last September’s mini budget.

The North West is currently home to the largest property price gap between cash and mortgage funded homebuyers, with cash buyers purchasing for almost £32,000 less.

In the South East, cash buyers are purchasing for just shy of £31,000 less than those with a mortgage, while the East of England (£29,217), Scotland (£25,487) and the North East (£23,598) are also home to some of the biggest gaps.

London is currently the only region where cash buyers are paying more than their mortgage funded counterparts – £19,314 on average since September of last year, to be exact. However, this overpayment by cash buyers has reduced by £4,010 when compared to the three months prior to the mini budget, when they were paying £23,324 more than a mortgage-funded homebuyer.

With the exception of London, all regions of Britain have seen the discount secured by cash buyers since the mini budget increase when compared to the three months prior to it, with the South West seeing the largest increase at £3,138.

On a more granular level, Three Rivers in Hertfordshire is currently home to the largest house price discounts for cash buyers, with the average price paid registering at £539,529 – some £88,456 below the price paid by a mortgage-backed homebuyer. Epsom and Ewell is home to the second largest discount for those paying in cash at £75,201, with East Renfrewshire (£73,881) and Wokingham (£72,170) also seeing the gap exceed £70,000.

Other areas to make the discount top 10 where cash is king include St Albans (£69,377), Waverly (£66,222), Hart (£65,706), Warwick (£63,068), Rochford (£62,822) and Solihull (£61,587).

Commenting on the figures, Chris Hodgkinson, managing director of House Buyer Bureau, said: “Since September last year, the market landscape has become increasingly more difficult and many of those who are reliant on a mortgage in order to buy have seen a squeeze on their purchasing potential.

“This has resulted in a higher degree of market turbulence and, with house prices starting to fall, many sellers are happy to take the hit with a cash buyer in order to secure a sale before the value of their home diminishes any further.”

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One Comment

  1. JohnH

    Not sure that these numbers have been interpreted correctly. The fact that the average price paid by cash buyers is lower than that paid by mortgage buyers does not necessarily mean that they are getting a better discount. It could just mean that cash buyers are buying lower priced property, or higher priced property as in London.

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