Sales before ordinary viewing: A study on how selling before the ordinary viewing affects price developments in the housing market

Sammanfattning: The housing market has lately turned very intense with many speculators and hectic auctions. The high demand and stagnating supply has led to significant increase in housing prices around the Stockholm area. This has resulted in apartments being bought or sold before the ordinary viewings where one out of five apartments is today being sold before the actual viewing.  We have conducted a qualitative study where we have evaluated how selling before ordinary viewings affect the housing market and the corresponding reasons behind this. To enable a pertinent conclusion, we have gather theoretical information regarding what factors affect the housing markets together with interviews with several real estate agents. Furthermore, we have highlighted how the prices differ between apartments that were sold before and after the ordinary viewings. The results showed that the price development is not affected by whether the apartment was sold before or after the ordinary viewing. However, this was not the case if the buyer found the apartment especially lucrative, which meant that the buyer was willing to pay an abnormal high price for it in order to get it out of the market, and thus secure the apartment. We moreover found that it is more profitable for the seller to wait until after the viewing to sell the apartment if such a buyer could not be found. One of the main reasons as to why purchases before ordinary viewing has gotten such a strong foothold lately is because the buyer, and some extent the seller, wants to avoid the high level of competitiveness and hectic auctions. Other motives are to increase revenue and to make the deal as smooth and fast as possible.