London sellers dropping asking prices

September 29, 2008

According to a recent report many property owners in the London area are being forced to drop their asking properties when selling their homes as a result of the slowdown in the housing market. With estate agents reportedly selling less than one property per week on average many homeowners have found that in order to even generate interest from cash strapped buyers they are having to slash the asking price on their properties by an average of over £20,000.

An official from Right Move, which carried out a recent survey, stated: ‘Faced with the scarcity of mortgage availability and the increase in unsold property, summer sellers have recognised the need to price aggressively.’

Another added: ‘Sellers who choose to come to the market during the peak holiday season generally have a greater need to sell. As a result, properties coming onto the market in July were on average over £21,000 cheaper than last month. Every borough in London saw a month on month fall in asking prices in July, and in all but six boroughs asking prices are now lower than a year ago.’

The housing market has been adversely affected by a number of factors over recent months. The lack of mortgages and tighter credit conditions means that many would be buyers are not able to get the finance that they need to get a property. In addition to this many potential buyers are nervous about taking the plunge at the moment because house prices are continuing to fall, which could result in some being left in negative equity very quickly.

Asking prices are said to have fallen in all boroughs of London, with Wandsworth seeing the greatest fall in terms of percentage, with asking prices falling by close to 8%. However, in terms of cash the biggest falls were in Chelsea and Kensington, where asking prices have reportedly fallen by over £88,000.

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