Sellers reduce asking prices by £19,000

Property sellers are cutting their prices by almost £19,000 in a bid to attract more buyers, a reduction of 7.1 per cent off the original price, the largest average price fall in more than a year.

According to research by Zoopla.co.uk, the property portal, over a third of all properties currently on the market have seen their price reduced at least once.

The report found that the average price reduction now stands at £18,970, nearly £500 higher than three months ago and over £2,500 higher than last summer.

The research shows the growing divide between the property market in the North of England and the South. Nine out of the top ten areas with the highest average asking price discount are in the North, led by Bolton where the average price reduction is 8.5 per cent, followed by Rotherham, Newcastle and Huddersfield with reductions of 8.4 per cent and 8.2 per cent, respectively.

In Doncaster, almost half of all properties on the market today have been reduced in price at least once from the original asking price.

This comes as the latest data from the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors on Tuesday showed that agents are still finding it difficult to complete sales. It found that agents are still selling only about one property a month for every four they are marketing, compared with a long-term average of about one in three.

Nicholas Leeming of Zoopla.co.uk said the drop in asking prices will be welcome news to buyers as it shows that seller expectations are becoming more realistic. Over the past year, estate agents have reported a drop in demand from buyers due to many sellers being too ambitious in their asking prices and tight mortgage criteria.

“Weak demand as a result of the continued lack of availability in mortgage finance has caused sellers to knock ever more off their asking price over the last 12 months in order to make a sale,” said Mr Leeming.

However, not all parts of the property market are seeing large price reductions. The average price reduction at the top end of the property market, properties priced over £1m, is at one of its lowest levels of the past 12 months - driven by the large demand for prime London properties by international buyers.