New-build programme: when sales slow down, what should you check before cutting prices?

A new-build market under heavy strain

The context matters. According to the Observatory of France's Federation of Property Developers (FPI), presented in February 2026, 92,352 new homes were sold in France in 2025, down 10.8% from 2024. It is the first time in this cycle that volume fell below 100,000 sales. FPI president Pascal Boulanger called 2025 "a catastrophic year, the worst in 40 years".

A few figures show the scale of the situation:

Another strong signal: according to the FPI, more than one development in five is withdrawn from the market for lack of buyers. And new-build prices have stayed flat since 2023, because construction costs are not falling. Room for manoeuvre on price is therefore limited.

In this context, every slowing programme raises the same question: should we cut prices? Before answering, you need to understand why this particular programme is slowing more than the others.

A slowdown is a symptom, not a diagnosis

When a programme slows down, the reflex is to look for a single explanation: the market, interest rates, competition, price. These factors exist, but they affect every programme in the same area.

A sales difficulty can reveal an issue of positioning, organisation, management or customer journey. Until the cause is identified, every action is a gamble. And in a market where margin is already under pressure, a failed gamble is expensive.

Here are six areas to analyse, in the order the buyer goes through them.

1. Re-read the results, not just the volume

The number of reservations doesn't tell you where the problem lies. Break down the sales funnel:

• how many inbound enquiries, and from which source?
• how many appointments from those enquiries?
• how many viewings or presentations (sales office, show flat, video call)?
• how many options, then reservations?
• how many withdrawals before the final deed?

A programme that generates plenty of enquiries but few appointments doesn't have the same problem as one that gets appointments but doesn't convert them into reservations. The first is often about lead handling; the second, about the offer or the pitch.

Comparing these rates from one period to the next, and from one salesperson to another, often reveals the weak link faster than any market study.

2. Measure how fast enquiries are handled

In a slow market, buyers are scarce and compare more. Every enquiry matters more than before.

Research is clear on this. In a Harvard Business Review article titled "The Short Life of Online Sales Leads" (2011), James Oldroyd, Kristina McElheran and David Elkington analysed data on more than a million leads. Their conclusion: firms that tried to contact a prospect within an hour were nearly seven times as likely to have a qualifying conversation as those that waited an hour longer. And more than sixty times as likely as those that waited 24 hours or more.

The same study tested more than 2,000 US companies: only 37% responded within an hour, and 23% never responded at all.

For a new-build programme, the questions are simple:

• what is the average time between an enquiry and the first call?
• who handles enquiries received in the evening and at weekends?
• how many follow-ups are made before a lead is dropped?

3. Follow the buyer journey, step by step

At each step, the buyer can drop off: slow call-backs, a generic presentation, a poorly handled objection, no follow-up after the viewing, a mortgage file that drags on.

Reconstructing the actual journey, not the one described in the process, often reveals unexpected gaps. A simple method is to step into a buyer's shoes: make an enquiry, follow what happens, note every delay and every point of friction.

It is also useful to ask buyers who reserved, and especially those who gave up. Their reasons are rarely the ones the team imagines.

4. Question the offer unit by unit

A programme isn't a uniform block. Some units sell, others don't. Layouts, floors, orientation, specifications, parking: understanding why certain units resist lets you act in a targeted way rather than applying a blanket discount.

The 2025 context makes this analysis even more important. With investor sales collapsing (more than 60% in a year according to the FPI) and owner-occupier sales rising, the buyer profile has changed. A programme designed for investors, with many small units, may no longer match current demand. That isn't a price problem, it's a fit problem.

5. Check that the pitch answers the real objections

Objections change with the market. A pitch built at launch may no longer address buyers' current concerns: financing, fees, delivery dates, resale, service charges, energy performance.

A simple and often very revealing exercise:

• list the objections actually heard over recent weeks;
• note the answers given by each team member;
• identify which ones convince and which ones don't;
• build a shared, factual answer for each frequent objection.

6. Look at how the team is organised and engaged

Lead allocation, availability, tracking tools, targets: organisation can hold performance back without anyone noticing. An engaged but poorly equipped team will produce less than it could.

When the pace slows, pressure rises and priorities blur. A team that no longer knows where to focus scatters its energy. Clarifying priorities and tracking indicators often restores traction faster than a discount.

In a difficult market, the temptation is to ask the team to do more. It is often more effective to help them do better, on fewer priorities.

And what about price?

Price remains a lever. But used after the diagnosis, it becomes a targeted tool: on certain units, under certain conditions, with a clear objective. Used instead of the diagnosis, it costs margin without guaranteeing results. And it can weaken how the programme is perceived by buyers who have already committed, or even trigger requests for the same discount.

Before any discount, ask three questions:

• do we know exactly at which step of the journey buyers drop off?
• do the units concerned have a price problem, or a fit problem?
• is the team handling every enquiry with the expected speed and quality?

If any answer is "no" or "we don't know", price is probably not the first lever to pull.

In short

Before acting on price, it is worth observing the situation as it is actually lived, decoding what connects the findings, then consolidating a prioritised action plan. That is exactly the logic of the ODC method, and the purpose of the New-build sales performance course.

Sources

• Fédération des Promoteurs Immobiliers (FPI), Observatoire FPI, 2025 annual review, presented 12 February 2026. Figures reported by Batiweb, "Après une année 2025 catastrophique, la FPI espère un vrai rebond en 2026" (in French).
• James B. Oldroyd, Kristina McElheran, David Elkington, "The Short Life of Online Sales Leads", Harvard Business Review, vol. 89, no. 3, 2011.