With more than a third of buyers surprised and almost three in ten sales falling through before completion – at an estimated cost of £1.5 billion a year – the UK property market remains surprisingly opaque. Buyers are expected to bid without knowing who they are competing against, relying on limited information and confidence in the process.
Open for offers, which bills itself as ‘the UK’s first transparent property marketplace’, The goal is to change this by publishing a real-time, anonymous order book for every listing. Each offer is visible: the amount, when it was made, and key details such as series status and funding type – but without identifying the buyer.
“Every other market in the world – stocks, commodities, even used cars – shows you how much buyers are willing to pay,” said Steven Myers, CEO of Open for Offers. “Property is the biggest financial decision most people will ever make, and they’re making it blind. We’re fixing that.”
Myers points to a He believes the home buying system in England and Wales remains opaque by international standards, with around 37% of buyers being left stranded in the last decade and around 29% of agreed sales collapsing before contracts were exchanged.
He cited statistics showing that trust in pricing is limited, with 63% of sellers not trusting the valuation set by their agent. They argued that failed transactions also have costs, with buyers losing an average of £2,899 on deals that do not go through.
open for offer It hopes to win business from home buyers – and agents – by publishing offers as anonymous listings once a property listing has been submitted. Each entry includes summary indicators of the offer along with amount, timing, buyer’s chain status, and funding status. Competing bids appear, but buyers are not identified.
“Scotland outlawed gazumping decades ago and its decline rate is less than 1%,” Myers said. “We are not waiting for legislation. We are building infrastructure that becomes economically illogical.”
“A first-time buyer competing against a cash investor deserves to know [transparency is crucial]He continued. “By being open to offers, they can look at each competing offer and make an informed decision about whether to raise their bid, stand firm, or walk away.”