The pain point: the portal route is failing nearly half of sellers
The standard way to sell is to instruct an agent, appear on a portal, and wait. In a fast market that works. In the market of 2026 it leaves a great many sellers stranded. Industry data shows homes that need a price cut take well over twice as long to sell, and the average completed sale in early 2026 went through at around 3.5 percent below the original asking price, roughly £18,000 on a typical home.
A stuck listing is not a neutral event. Every week on the market, a property looks more tired to buyers, who quietly assume something must be wrong with it. Time on the portal erodes the very price the seller was waiting for.
Why a property gets stuck
Sometimes it is simply the price. But often it is a mismatch between the property and the audience a portal sends to it. A portal listing is built to attract an owner-occupier with a mortgage who wants to move in. If your property is tenanted, needs work, is a flat with a short lease, or is one of several you want to sell together, that audience is the wrong one. They scroll past, and the listing sits.
The property is not unsellable. It is being shown to the wrong buyers.
The other route: matching, not marketing
There is a second market that runs alongside the visible one. GalimAI's data identifies roughly 205,000 to 215,000 companies that have actively bought UK property in the last three years, mapped by region in our active-buyer data. These buyers do not wait for portal listings. They acquire steadily, often directly, and many of them specifically want the kind of property that struggles on the open market: tenanted homes, properties needing work, small portfolios.
Selling to that audience is not about marketing harder. It is about matching: identifying the active buyers near your property and making a direct introduction, rather than hoping the right buyer happens to scroll past your listing.
What this means if your sale has stalled
A stuck listing tends to push sellers toward repeated price cuts, which the data shows only lengthens the wait. The alternative is to change the route rather than the price. If the open-market audience is wrong for your property, reaching the active buyers who actually want it is a faster path, and often a better one for the final figure too.
GalimAI matches property owners who want to sell with companies actively buying in their area. We identify the genuine active buyers near your property, confirm they are acquiring, and make a direct, discreet introduction. No portal listing, no waiting for the right buyer to appear.
Is your property stuck on the market?
Tell us where it is and what you are selling. We will identify companies actively buying in that area and make a direct introduction, with no public listing required.
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Will I get less by selling off-market?
Not necessarily. A stuck listing erodes price through repeated cuts and buyer suspicion. A direct match to a buyer who actually wants your type of property can produce a cleaner, faster sale at a fair figure. The right comparison is against what a stalled listing actually achieves, not the original asking price.
What types of property suit this route best?
Tenanted homes, properties needing work, flats with lease issues, and small portfolios all tend to struggle on a portal and do well with a direct buyer match, because company buyers value exactly those features.
Do I still need an estate agent?
Not for this route. A direct introduction to an active buyer does not require a portal listing. You can read more in buying and selling without an estate agent.