House sellers drop asking prices in August for second straight month - Rightmove

Monday, 15 August 2011 11:30

Homeowners in the UK have dropped the asking price of a property again in August following a dip in July, with the average now lower than a year ago, new figures have shown.

According to the latest House Price Index from property website Rightmove, the average asking price dropped 2.1 per cent to £231,543 in August, following a 1.6 per cent reduction in July.

This meant a fall of 0.3 per cent compared with the same period in 2010, it added, before going on to suggest that prices have fallen by 4.1 per cent in the four years since the start of the financial crisis.

Housing market transaction levels remain low as a shortage in the supply of new sellers is matched by the number of serious buyers, the report suggested.

It also pointed out that forced sales will be limited, while mortgage rates will be held down in the coming months because the base rate is expected to stay at 0.5 per cent until at least 2013.

Risks to the health of the housing market include a possible increase in unemployment, as well as a potential freezing of credit markets amid sovereign debt concerns.

Rightmove director Miles Shipside likened the current state of the market to "limbo land", suggesting that much of the current activity is limited to "sellers who are willing to price aggressively below the competition and who can afford to do deals".

These figures come after the Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML) recently revealed that June saw the highest number of mortgages taken out by first-time buyers in ten months.

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