Buyers offer what they think the property is worth in the market time. Properties are sometimes listed high and sometimes properties are listed very competitively. You wouldn't want to take a 12% reduction if you knew the property has multiple offers. It's a case by case basis - your agent should advise you if they are a buyer's agent.

I once tried to figure that out and found that it was between $5000 and $12000 below asking price and didn't reflect the amount of asking price. My experience has shown that sellers have an amount in their head or that they must have for financial reasons that influences what I call the wiggle room more than any statistics I could find. Sorry my answer isn't very scientific or statistically oriented but I haven't found a typical seller in those terms yet.

The average sale price to listing price percentage is a variable based on the time on market, location and list price. For example, in Sandwich this percentage can vary significantly depending on location (which of the four villages). I have looked at these percentages over time for Sandwich and they vary from a high of 96.5% when sold in less than 30 days to 92.5% when they are sold in 120+ days. Your realtor can develop these statistics for you based on location, list price and time on market for your specific town and village. remember these are averages not specific numbers that can be quoted as positive relationships.

Using just single family data, in the last 6 months the average sale price to original price discount is a 9% and in the average sale price to listing price discount was 4%. "Listing Price" means what the properties were listed at the time the offer went under agreement, usually the properties have been discounted already from their original price. So, not quite 12% discount but compared to the the same 6 months the year prior (9/18/2007-3/18/2008), the discounts have actually shrunk: 12% and 7% respectively. Very interesting data, actually, might have to write a blog on this one!

Hope that helps.

In my experience, there is no "rule of thumb" percentage. While it may be possible to come up with an average, the percent of purchase price depends on too many factors that vary from property to property ie: how accuraetely the home was priced initially, time on market, reason for selling etc. A good buyers agent can provide you with some of the behind the scenes info needed to help determine true market value.

It varies from community to community. For example Chelmsford, in the past year sold 254 single family homes. The average sold to list price was 96% of asking. The average sold to original list price was 93%. I would figure approx 30% of all properties had at least one price change and figure almost 50% of all properties expire unsold.

Depending on why you need this data. I would contact a local realtor to provide you with this information. The data is also very specific in different price points, believe it or not the lowere priced properties in Chelmsford had the bigger percentage sold to asking percentage. Hope this helps, good luck.

Hi Mike:

If by typical , you mean average, that information is available by zip code. It is dangerous to use a general rule of thumb because it depends on so many factors.

Why are you asking the question Mike?

Regards,

Rob