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First-time Buyer

Cash buyers pay average £20k less for homes than mortgage borrowers

Paloma Kubiak
Written By:
Paloma Kubiak
Posted:
Updated:
20/02/2020

Cash is king for homebuyers and sellers, offering a quicker and more certain sale, with big discounts available to those with the means to buy outright.

The average price paid by cash buyers over the last year is £220,100, -9% cheaper than the price paid by buyers with a mortgage (£240,758), according to GetAgent.co.uk.

The estate agent comparison site looked at the average price paid by cash buyers over the last 12 months and how this compared to that paid by buyers funded via a mortgage to see what the difference was and how this varied regionally across the UK.

Mind the gap

The cash discount is greatest in the North East and North West, where properties bought with cash go for -12% less.

At a local level, Falkirk is home to the best cash bargains in Britain with cash sales seeing a massive -24% discount compared to mortgage-funded purchases. North Lanarkshire and Renfrewshire (-21%) are also home to some of the biggest differences, with Hartlepool seeing the biggest cash discount in England at (-21%).

At the other end of the spectrum, London is the only region where cash will cost you more, 6% more than the average price paid by a mortgage buyer.

Founder and CEO of GetAgent.co.uk, Colby Short, said: “Cash is always king when it comes to pretty much any transaction and this doesn’t change just because you’re buying a house. In fact, it becomes even more pertinent.

“Cash buyers are preferable to many sellers because they provide a much simpler transaction with fewer hoops to jump through and often come without a complicated chain. The flip side of this convenience is that cash buyers have a far stronger position when it comes to negotiations and often sellers will accept a more sizeable reduction for the speed and convenience of a cash sale.

“While this is nothing new, it has become more prevalent in recent times due to a few factors. Brexit uncertainty over the last year has left many on the fence and so those that are looking to sell have had to do so with a lower price expectation due to a dwindling level of buyer interest.”