A new tactic for listing high-end real estate assets in the London market has industry experts there scratching their heads. It’s called “ghost listing.” What is it? Investment expert Nick Millican explains:
To understand ghost listings, it is helpful to first describe what it is not. There are two basic ways to sell a property in the U.K. The first is by private transaction between parties. That leaves a minimal footprint, except for the standard registry documents. For Nick Millican, the second traditional way to move real estate is by the employment of licensed real estate agents and online advertising platforms.
Well, ghost listing is neither of the above and involves simply posting a notice about a property on a specific kind of website where the asset is simply identified as “off-market.” How can this help sell a property? Well, Nick Millican speculates that some operators are hoping to establish a heightened regime of privacy.
One advantage of this is the avoidance of negative fallout if a property does not sell or prices are drastically reduced. It may also provide access to a much wider field of potential buyers. Real estate agent and expert Nick Millican is a prominent figure in the British real estate sector (Twitter).
He enjoys a renowned reputation for his stellar investment management skills and facility with asset development. He suggests that the dramatic fluctuation occurring within the housing market over the past year has served to bolster the tactic of ghost listing. As to the effectiveness of the strategy, Nick Millican finally states, the jury is still out, to say the least. Time will tell if ghost listing becomes a useful strategy or falls by the wayside in the coming months or years.