Five Stages of an Overpriced Listing (in Manhattan)

As we all know, pricing a property can change the entire listing strategy. All sellers want the highest price possible, and sellers love to “test the market.” But when the first few weeks go by without much activity, questions start coming up about how the marketing is being done. Are you marketing to the right buyers? I don’t like the photos. Are you doing enough open houses? All those questions start to come into play. Eventually, the conversation turns to a “price reduction.” And usually, sellers are only comfortable with small, incremental price reductions that can further hinder the sales process.

We’ve all been there—as sellers, brokers, bankers, real estate attorneys, and title professionals. We all see it, we all understand it, but yet we’re still attracted to the idea of listing high and allowing some “room for negotiation.” The great Manhattan real estate data platform, UrbanDigs.com, recently dove into this subject with some interesting data, which I’m going to share with you!

There are five stages of an overpriced listing, but they can all be avoided if you get the price right the first time out of the gate. Looking back at Q3 sales, properties that went into contract within the first 30 days had a median discount of 0% off the original asking price! For listings that took longer than 120 days, the median discount was greater than 9%, sometimes reaching as much as 12% to 15%. UrbanDigs created a spiffy little chart, which I’ll share below, showing the listing discount based on how long a property stayed on the market. No matter what market you’re in, I feel this is a good standard to go by and may help you, your seller, or yourself price correctly, sell for more, and in a shorter amount of time.

Some more notes about the Manhattan market that I find interesting and that help reinforce this pricing strategy: The average number of days on market for Q3 of 2026 was 79 days before a property went into contract. There are currently roughly 6,200 listings on the market, a number that can grow to about 7,500 during the spring selling season. But what’s interesting is that of those 6,200 listings, more than 3,700 have been on the market for over 60 days, bordering on stale.

That means there’s an even smaller pool of fresh listings that are priced correctly. Usually, only about 15% to 21% of the overall market consists of fresh inventory that is priced right. So the pickings are slim for buyers! If your property is priced correctly, buyers are going to gravitate toward it because the majority of the inventory out there—almost 80%—is either already stale, having been on the market for 60 to 120 days or longer, or is overpriced and likely to become stale. Pricing is always key, but in today’s Manhattan market, it’s even more important.

Here are the five stages of an overpriced listing, according to John Walkup and the UrbanDigs platform:

1. Denial: 0–30 Days

The seller is in denial. “Let’s just test the market with a higher price and see what buyers say.” There’s optimism that the right buyer will come along and pay the asking price, even if the early activity suggests otherwise.

2. Anger: 31–60 Days

“It’s your marketing! You’re not doing enough open houses. Get better photography. Do weekday open houses. Give me different placements in different areas.” These are all the things sellers tend to gravitate toward 30 to 60 days into an overpriced listing. The frustration builds, but the asking price remains largely unchanged.

3. Bargaining: 61–90 Days

Now you’re looking at a property that may need a price adjustment of at least 4% to 6% to attract buyers if you haven’t received an offer yet. But instead, sellers say, “Let’s do a small price cut. Let’s buy down someone’s mortgage rate,” or come up with some other incentive to get buyers to make offers. Anything but making the necessary price adjustment!

4. Depression: 91–120 Days

“Nobody wants the property. Maybe we should pull it off the market and try again in the spring. Maybe we should rent it.” At this point, the listing has become stale, buyer interest has dwindled, and the seller is understandably discouraged.

5. Acceptance: 120+ Days

Now the property may need a price adjustment of 10% or more, and the seller finally asks, “What will it actually take to sell?” And then you go back to the price you recommended at your very first meeting! You adjust the listing and eventually find a buyer, but you’ve wasted months on the market and probably could have gotten a higher price if you had chosen that strategy right out of the gate.

Set the right price at the onset. Take a good look at the inventory, understand the competition, and consider these five stages before launching your property. I always encourage my clients to price correctly from day one. You'll attract more serious buyers, create more urgency, and potentially sell for a higher price in a shorter amount of time. And everyone will be happier in the long run!

DATA SOURCE: John Walkup, Urbandigs.com