Asking prices for property new to the market have dropped by 1.7% over the last month – an average of £4,091 – as over-supply coincides with holidaying buyers.
Rightmove said this morning that the price fall affects 117,000 new properties added to its site so far this month – a surprisingly high total and the highest figure Rightmove has recorded for August since 2007, just as the market peaked.
The drop follows a 0.6% fall in asking prices last month. Until July, Rightmove had seen only rises in asking prices. The average asking price is now £232,241 – still astonishingly high compared with ‘actual’ data from Halifax, Nationwide and the Land Registry, which are currently quoting under £170,000. Asking prices peaked in June at £237,767.
Miles Shipside, commercial director of Rightmove, said: “No one really wants to come to market in August unless they have to.
“It shows these new sellers have a compelling need to sell, as they have lopped over £4,000 off the average asking price.
“Those who marketed earlier in the year but have yet to find a buyer may have to do a bit of pruning of their own to beat this new competition.”
He said that current market conditions resemble those of the second half of 2008: “Then, prices fell by 7.1% between August and the end of the year, as buyers unwilling or unable to proceed left agents with unsold stock levels similar to those currently being recorded by Rightmove.”
He said the average agent’s office now has 79 properties on its books, with new stock coming on to Rightmove’s books at an average of 29,220 per week.
The figure compares with mortgage approvals of less than half that number – currently an average of 13,852 a week.
“The imbalance between mortgage and stock availability remains painfully clear,” said Shipside.
He added that pent-up buyer demand is illustrated by record daily activity on the site, with 25.4 million pages viewed on August 10.
Asking prices slide as sellers show signs of desperation
Latest Features
-
AI struggles to pass the trust test in the workplace
Artificial Intelligence will not be taking over people’s jobs any time...
-
Scottish housebuilding needs to return to levels from 25 years ago
Scottish housebuilding needs to return to the completion numbers from 25...
-
There is a future in buy-to-let
High interest rates, slow price growth and more stringent tax rules...
Sponsored Content
-
Ready or not, the digitally enabled consumer is here...
Changes to consumer behaviour usually arrive in waves. Most of the...
-
Join the future of estate agency, today. ...
Estate agency has changed. No longer is it required to sit in...
-
A Market-leading ecosystem for estate agents ...
At iamproperty we are excited to share the announcement of our...
-
Upcoming Stamp Duty Change may spur sales in short term
An expert says a change in Stamp Duty Land Tax, coming...
-
Fast-growing estate agency group attracts £100m price tag
It's reported that the Lomond estate agency group, which is heavily...
-
Property Natter - Here comes Summer.... or maybe Autumn?
We all know that first-time buyers have had a tough time...
-
Rightmove: It's difficult for agents to provide material information
The task of obtaining material information is more difficult than it...
-
Stamp Duty Revolution - call for sellers to pay instead of buyers
A prominent estate agent has started an online petition to reverse...
-
Agency regulation and enforcement will improve home sales - claim
Estate agency regulation is needed to help improve the homebuying and...
60 second interview
Jake Gann, Sales Director at Bamboo Auction
Who are you and what does it say on...
Ashley Day - Director of Bristol Property Centre
Who are you, and what does it say on...
Graham Paterson ‘Co-founder and CEO of Jitty’
Who are you and what does it say on your...
Comments
PropertyWatcher - can you plaster?
Have to warn you, the second we kick off, Barratt, Persimmon, et al will take out a contract on us both... ;0)
I'm also a little worried about how we are going to finance all this. And, how the buyers are going to finance their purchases, seeing as all the banks are simply interlending.
PeeBee, I don't think they should be built for peanuts, just not for (much?) profit and financed by the government (by seizing appropriate land.) I know its a flight of fancy!
If we can build starter homes for £60k (even £100k) then I think that's well within the realms of affordability for the majority.
Let's do it PeeBee, me and you.
PropertyWatcher: Your visions for vast new development would be welcomed by builders and buyers alike - but there is only one flaw in the idea. New houses simply cannot be built for peanuts. Wimpey recently announced that by judicious pruning they had reduced build cost to just over £100 per square foot. That's £60k plus just to BUILD a starter home - no land cost; no overheads; and no profit. New legislation (Code for Sustainable Homes) currently adds approximately £5000 to the build cost of every new home. By 2016, this figure is set to rise to over £40,000. EXTRA.
It's no good talking about subsidies and incentives - so many other countries owe us money, and we owe so many others, that GB Ltd is on the verge of bankruptcy as it is!
PeeBee is generally correct. I think prices will fall a bit in most areas, apart from the most desirable, but with mortgage availability and negative equity problems, the market will stay quite static with low sales volumes. The market will only really be open to the equity rich and opportunists.
We need a government that will embark on large scale building programmes across the country (new towns?) to include houses priced to match average salaries and lots of rentals run by not-for-profit organisations, with capped rents and long term tenancies. But we don't have that sort of government.
Perhaps if those who make their living from the property industry were to lobby for this sort of solution, instead of for ever increasing prices, we may get somewhere. Otherwise stagnation it is.
MartynB:
You just made a point - "The wealthy will buy up at bargain levels for BTL purposes." IF these properties are being offered at 'bargain levels', as you suggest, then why cannot first-timers afford them?. Furthermore, IF prices are to reduce further, surely BTLetters will snap these up even quicker, leaving FTBs still high and dry?
Low prices will not cure all, as you and many others seem to think. For a start, it will prevent several million homes being re-offered for sale, due to negative equity. That's several million homes; several million sellers who would then go on to be buyers of several million more homes - need I say more...
We have entered a new phase of the housing market. Vastly reduced numbers of transactions will be the norm, I believe. I dread to think how those who live by 'the Numbers Game' expect to survive in the coming years...
Prices are still too high for real movement in the market; new buyers will stimulate activity only when they can afford to participate. For now the deals will be rental led. The wealthy will buy up at bargain levels for BTL purposes.
prices need to come down further, yes there is far too much over inflated stock for sale and in my experience independents are just as guilty as the big chains. This august is significantly quieter than august 2009 and i believe the industry is in for a lean winter.
What movement will there be in the 'market' if most of the existing owners fall into negative equity because prices fall too much?
RM is an excellent marketing tool and they obviously have an excellent commercial director who constantly gets RM's views across to the mass media , but it does make one think where are the constant views of the actual agents themselves - in the shape of the RICS and NFoPP?
Just a thought!
The sooner prices fall to a level that first time buyers can afford on a 3x multiplier the better. There will then be far more activity - us estate agents will earn less commission per sale, but probably the same overall if there are more properties being shifted.
Shame on every EA thats lists overpriced stock- "list to sell" not "list to list" and hope- better job required you overpricing cheap fee lot, wake up the industry has changed, did you notice Northern Rock 3 years ago?
The big UK news story of the final quarter will be the lack of mortgage funding. Not just FTBs or high LTV - everyone. The Gov will have to step in. The housing market is central to the economy & consumer confidence & the banks are just self serving.