Auctions
Distressed asset
A property that has gone to auction more than once and never sold; on the public record, a vendor who wants out and a market that has said no.
Also called: repeatedly unsold lot, motivated seller, distressed property.
Definition
Distressed asset, as the data uses it
The clearest distress signal in the warehouse is repeat failure at auction: the same address offered again and again without a sale. MarketCode ranks these by how many separate auctions the lot has failed at and how long it has been on the circuit, grouped by address because flat-level matching in auction data is weak.
The guide-to-valuation ratio separates the two reasons a lot fails. Above 1.0 it is guided above the estimate and keeps failing because it is priced wrong: a repricing conversation. Between 0.5 and 1.0 it is guided below estimate and still unsold: the cohort worth a call. Below about 0.5, check the lease before anything else; a flat guided at a fraction of a freehold estimate is usually a short lease or a garage, not a bargain.
Tools
Tools that return it
Distressed assets: repeatedly unsold lots
distressed_assets()Properties that keep going to auction and NEVER SELL — the distress screen.
Site appraisal dossier
site_appraisal()Everything known about ONE site, assembled and judged — the site dossier.
Auction lots
auction_lots()Individual UK auction lots: the guide price a lot was marketed at, whether it sold, the HAMMER PRICE where the auctioneer published one, and the net yield where quoted.
See also
Related terms
- Auction discount: How far below an automated valuation of the same property an auction lot actually sells; a ratio MarketCode can compute because it holds both the hammer price and the valuation.
- Guide price and hammer price: The price a lot is marketed at before auction (the guide) and the price it sells for under the hammer (the achieved price); most auctioneers publish the first and few publish the second.
- Tenure (freehold and leasehold): How a property is held: freehold outright, or leasehold for a fixed term under a lease from the freeholder; recorded on every registered sale and every title.
FAQ
Questions about distressed asset
What does Distressed asset mean?
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A property that has gone to auction more than once and never sold; on the public record, a vendor who wants out and a market that has said no.
Which MarketCode tools return distressed asset?
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Distressed assets: repeatedly unsold lots, Site appraisal dossier, Auction lots. Each runs as an MCP tool in Claude, ChatGPT, Codex and Cursor and as a REST endpoint with an API key, at the same price.
Is motivated seller the same thing?
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Yes. repeatedly unsold lot, motivated seller, distressed property are other names for what this entry defines; MarketCode uses "Distressed asset" in its tool descriptions and responses.
See it on a real address.
Thirty minutes, your property or area, every figure sourced.