Patience has a price, and the market always finds it.

Waiting for the right price is never free. It is a reasonable choice, but the bill arrives every month whether a buyer does or not.

An empty house keeps costing. The municipality still sends a rates account, the bond still has to be paid, and so does the insurance. Someone has to cut the grass and check that the copper pipes are still there. In a sectional title scheme the levies keep coming as well. None of that pauses because the seller has decided to hold out for a better offer, and over several months it can add up to more than the gap between the asking price and the offers on the table.

The market collects a second way too. Buyers can see how long a house has been listed, and a listing that sits begins to look like a problem even when there is nothing wrong with it. Offers get lower, not higher. A seller with no bond and nowhere else to be can wait as long as they like, and sometimes the right buyer does come. Honestly, the question is just who is paying for the wait, and whether anyone has added it up.