Property poker faces: One in four buyers pretend they don’t like a property to negotiate on price
Ahead of this week’s final episodes of BBC show The Traitors, the UK’s biggest property website Rightmove reveals how many people have tried to play their own game when it comes to home-moving.
According to over 1,000 respondents from Rightmove’s research panel, nearly one in four (24%) said they had pretended to be uninterested in a property, to try and negotiate a better deal.
The data also reveals that almost one in five (17%) have either exaggerated or downplayed the size or price of their home to suit different personal motives – perhaps trying to impress friends, family or colleagues.
When it comes to the reason for moving, nearly 16% admit to fabricating their motivation. From relocating for exciting job opportunities, to seeking a fresh start in a new area, it appears some people want to keep their true motivations for moving to themselves.
Steve Pimblett, Chief Data Officer at Rightmove says, “The latest data from our research panel shows that many home-movers are trying to keep their cards close to their chest when it comes to property roundtable discussions. Some try to keep a poker face about how much they truly like a property, while others might be trying to avoid unwanted questions about their reasons for moving.”
ENDS
Notes to editors:
- The survey was live from 10th to 20th January 2025 and hosted on Rightmove’s Living Room (Rightmove’s research panel) with 1,065 responses
About Rightmove
- Rightmove has the UK’s largest selection of properties for sale and to rent, adds more listings than anyone else, and over 80% of all time spent on property portals is on Rightmove.
- Rightmove’s vision is to give everyone the belief that they can make their move by giving people the best place to turn and return to for access to tools and expertise to make it happen.
- People can search Rightmove for residential resale, new homes, rentals, commercial property and overseas properties and use tools and information including getting a Mortgage in Principle, checking local sold prices, property valuations, market trends, maps and schools.
- Customers include the following key groups: estate agents, lettings agents, new homes developers, rental operators, commercial property operators and overseas property agents.
- Using the UK’s largest housing datasets, we issue a number of regular reports to track housing market indicators: our monthly House Price Index (established 2002), our quarterly Rental Trends Tracker (established 2015), a weekly Mortgage Rates Tracker (established 2023) and a quarterly Commercial Insights Tracker (2024). Historical data is available on request.
- Founded in 2000, Rightmove listed on the London Stock Exchange in 2006 and is a member of the FTSE 100 index.
- For more information, please visit rightmove.co.uk/claims
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