看中一套房子，猶豫到底要不要出手時，總會接到中介電話說，“姐您趕緊定吧，有別的客戶也看上要交定金了”，或者“哥您別猶豫了，有其他客戶馬上就要來簽合同了”……你是否也遇到過類似情況？實際上這些購房意向可能并不存在，只是中介為了促成盡快成交而耍的小聰明。國外的房產市場也存在這種情況。這些虛構出來的購房意向就被稱為“幽靈出價”。

Phantom offer is a nonexistent offer to purchase a house, used to coerce people making real offers into raising their prices.
“幽靈出價”指的是購房時并不存在的買方出價，目的是迫使人們做出真實出價，抬高房價。

Your below-asking-price offer has been accepted, the property you are buying is off the market, and it’s all steam ahead towards completion. Then the next week, the Estate Agent calls to say that someone who viewed the property previously has put in an offer a few thousand pounds above yours. You smell a rat.
你最初的出價低于賣方的要價，賣方也接受了。你要買的這套房下架，你就要買成了。緊接著，下一周，房產中介就給你打電話，說之前看過房的某位客戶出價比你多了數千英鎊。你感到可疑。

That’s when unscrupulous agents hint to potential buyers that they have another offer that doesn’t actually exist in the hope of extracting more money.
肆無忌憚的房產中介會向潛在買家暗示，他們有其他的出價客戶，而其實他們并沒有，目的就是為了賺更多的錢。

（中國日報網英語點津? yaning）