Fewer sellers are chopping their prices, says Zoopla

Despite Rightmove’s campaign against overpricing, the proportion of properties on the market across the UK that have seen their asking price reduced from its original level is at a two-year low, according to rival website Zoopla.

This week, Zoopla said that “in what may be a sign that the housing market is starting to strengthen”, home owners feel under less pressure to cut their prices than at any time since August 2010.

Even so, one-third of properties (32.8%) currently listed on Zoopla have had their asking prices cut at least once, and in some places the proportion is much higher: in Wakefield, for example, over half of properties for sale have had their asking prices chopped.

The Zoopla statistics say that the overall proportion is down from 36.9% three months ago and 40.4% one year ago.
 
However, the average price reduction on those properties that have been discounted is up to its highest level in two years, now standing at £20,612 compared to £18,993 three months ago.

Areas with the biggest asking price reductions are Romford in Essex (where the discount is 10.3%), Wakefield (8.9%), Newcastle (8.8%), Liverpool (8.8%) and Bradford 8.7%).

Areas with asking price reductions of under 6% include Wolverhampton, Reading, Telford, Poole and Edinburgh.

Even in London, where there is a relatively low proportion of reductions on asking prices, some values have been chopped: Zoopla says that 28.7% of sellers have had to chop prices by an average of 7.1%, equating to a cut of £55,170.