[victorNicollet]

This might be the case for very high-end houses and flats, but I don't have a lot of experience with those.

For mainstream properties, from my experience the market is saturated with people who price above market rates and would rather wait for months than accept a significantly lower price. If you see something that you might consider buying with a 20% discount, you usually don't bother visiting the place. This likely drowns out the people who are trying to set up auctions by setting a very high ask price.

[jsolson]

I think this sounds like what the GP is describing -- they price above market to seek a higher than market offer. That they aren't inundated by offers simply suggests that the demand isn't there to garner that sort of premium. The market for houses in Silicon Valley is severely supply constrained, so sellers are able to demand a premium (that is, they could price well above what they "market" price ought to be and likely get offers at or near their asking price). It would set up a similar uncertainty in potential buyers minds that results in the absurd offers above asking that we see today.

Put differently: while the specifics of this sale (price well above asking) might be impossible in France, the "sale price well above rational market price" phenomenon is really hard to quash when the market chooses to be irrational for a while.

[vmarsy]

So basically it seems that houses in France are sold via a slow Dutch auction[1], whereas in the US it's an English auction...

It seems that the English auction goes much faster for the seller, whereas in the french house market, the buyer is the one having a fast process since as soon as they find a good home with a price they like, they can just decide to buy.

[1] https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dutch_auction