House asking prices at most discounted level in over a year
The average price reduction being offered by property sellers in the UK is currently at its highest level in more than a year, according to the latest research from property website Zoopla.co.uk. For properties where the asking price has been discounted since first being listed, the average price reduction now stands at £18,970, nearly £500 higher than 3 months ago and over £2,500 higher than last summer as sellers try to attract more potential buyers.
Zoopla.co.uk, which offers a unique feature allowing users to sort properties for sale by those that have been most-reduced in price, reveals that 36.9% of all properties currently on the market in the UK have been discounted at least once, slightly less than the 37.4% in February. However, the average discount is now £494 higher than in February and £2,576 than last August, standing at its highest level in more than a year at 7.1% of the original asking price.
The latest figures will be welcome news to buyers as it shows that seller expectations are becoming more realistic. The story is quite different at the top end of the market for properties listed at £1m+ where the average price reduction is actually at one of its lowest levels of the past 12 months, a sign that demand at the upper end of the market is strengthening.
The North-South divide has never been clearer in the property market, with sellers in the North having to reduce asking prices more often and by much more than those in 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%, followed closely by Rotherham (8.4%), Newcastle (8.2%), Huddersfield (8.2%) and Glasgow (8%).
And in Doncaster, almost half (46.4%) of all properties on the market today have been reduced in price at least once from the original asking price. Other areas of the country with the highest proportion of price-reduced properties include Wolverhampton (44.6%), Stockport (43.2%), Birmingham (42.8%) and Chelmsford (42.8%).
At the other end of the scale, properties in Croydon (5.7%) have the lowest average discount to the original asking price and Chorley (28.5%) has the lowest proportion of price-reduced homes in Britain.
Nicholas Leeming, Business Development Director of Zoopla.co.uk, said, "Weak demand as a result of the continued lack of availability of mortgage finance has caused sellers to knock ever more off their asking price over the last 12 months in order to make a sale. This is great news for buyers who are able to pick up more of a bargain in the housing market now than at any time in the last year.”