Are buyers negotiating more in Madrid after 101 days?

B

BrightStone

First-time buyer
Established
We are deciding how aggressively to negotiate on a Madrid duplex, probably within €879,500–€1,319,000. The listings we are following appear to average about 101 days on market, but the citywide picture feels irrelevant because our two preferred neighbourhoods behave differently.

Condition and clarity around transaction fees also seem to affect interest. How would you distinguish genuinely negotiable stock from homes merely waiting for the right buyer? Recent completed sales would be especially helpful, including any cases where the final price differed from the visible asking-price history.
 
I would not turn 101 days into an automatic discount. Follow each candidate from its first listing: price changes, withdrawals, relisting, condition and competing duplexes nearby. A stale home with no reduction may indicate a seller who is patient rather than flexible. Your strongest offer is one supported by comparable alternatives and a clear total-cost calculation.
 
Which two neighbourhoods, and where are you drawing their boundaries? A few streets can change the comparison, particularly if one side has better building quality or a different feel. Also, are you comparing renovated duplexes with renovation projects? Without separating those, the 101-day figure could hide more than it reveals.
 
I partly disagree about giving much weight to withdrawals. They can reflect a seller changing plans, switching agents or relisting differently, so they are useful context but weak evidence of negotiability.

Completed transactions are better, although public asking histories still will not reveal every term of a deal. Ask the agents handling your shortlisted properties to justify the price with recent nearby completions matching size, condition and exact neighbourhood boundary.
 
Seller behaviour after a price cut can still tell you something. A recent meaningful reduction may bring the property back into contention, making a very low offer less attractive to the seller. By contrast, repeated small cuts followed by continued silence can suggest the original expectation was unrealistic. I would ask when the seller wants to complete and whether there are timing constraints, without assuming the answer guarantees flexibility.
 
Financing may matter as much as the headline amount. Two offers at the same price can look different if one buyer is ready to proceed and the other still has major uncertainties. Before choosing a negotiation figure, put purchase price, transaction fees, financing limits and immediate condition work into one budget. Otherwise a nominal discount on a tired duplex can be misleading.
 
Fatima's boundary question is crucial. I would make a small table only for genuinely comparable streets: original ask, current ask, first-seen date, visible cuts, condition and whether the listing disappeared or returned. Keep withdrawn homes in a separate column rather than treating them as sales. That will not produce final transaction prices, but it should expose whether the 101 days comes from broadly slow demand or a handful of stubborn listings.
 
Also track new-listing volume. If suitable duplexes keep appearing faster than buyers remove them, you can walk away more comfortably. If very little comparable stock is coming on, 101 days may simply reflect unusual properties taking longer to match with buyers. The number of realistic substitutes available to you is more useful than a Madrid-wide average.
 
A practical sequence would be: define the streets and minimum condition you will accept; separate fresh, reduced, withdrawn and relisted stock; obtain as much evidence of nearby completed sales as agents can provide; then compare each home's full cost rather than asking price alone. For the preferred property, make an evidence-based offer with a clear timetable. Keep a second acceptable property in view so you are not negotiating as though there is only one option.
 
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