Why are prices on real estate so high? Mostly, pricing is established by the "sellers". A REALTOR can only suggest what the listing price may be. That being said, there are so many games being played by real estate sales people with regard to price. It is possible that the agent will suggest a very high price just to ge the "listing". More than not, this usually results in the property being listed and not sold. Eventually, if the price is "reduced" at a later date, the seller can only weap at the lost opportunities for earlier sales, if the price had been fair from the on set. Additionally, 98% of properties that are sold are financed via a mortgage or lending institution. It is very common that the lender will require an appraisal of the property to determine some value that will satisfy their lending requirements. If the price is inflated, the property will NOT appraise and the prospective lender will not loan enough money to get the property bought. That only leaves 2% of buyers who will pay cash for a property. Those buyers, sometimes will purchase the property even with it's inflated price because they have the means to do so. BUT... Statisticly, it is only 2% of the time. IF you want to learn more. Let me know.