According to new data, buyers who are looking for a new place to call home may be able to benefit from a seasonal drop in asking price.
Property website Rightmove said the average asking prices of homes newly listed for sale fell by £2,044 in the past month, as the traditional November slowdown arrived, despite this year’s soaraway housing market.
Rightmove said the average asking price slipped by an average of 0.6 per cent from £344,445 to £342,401, marking the biggest monthly drop since January, when they fell by 0.9 per cent.
Rightmove says that while asking prices are likely to fall in November each year, sellers often downgrade their expectations. This means buyers might have an opportunity for bargains before the Christmas ‘buyer boom.
Fall: Average asking prices of homes listed for sale fell by over £2,000 in the past month
Average asking prices rose by 6.3% in November compared to a 6.5% increase the month before.
All areas of the country experienced a fall in asking prices, except the East of England.
Online property portal believes the asking price “price lull” will continue from now to Christmas and encourages potential buyers, if they do make a decision to purchase, to think about a fixed-rate loan deal to protect themselves against the Bank of England’s imminent interest rise.
Rightmove’s Director of Property Data Tim Bannister said that despite the high property prices and consequent scarcity of properties for potential buyers, sellers are giving a Christmas present early by decreasing their asking prices by 0.6%.
“Sellers who market too close to Christmas can often be motivated to sell. They will price less to capture the interest of potential buyers.
He said, “December has been traditionally a quiet month for buyers. This makes it an ideal time for serious buyers looking to get a relative bargain.”
Northfields Estate Agency’s managing director Richard Palfreeman said that vendors are often motivated to sell and they offer great deals for buyers.
Rightmove reported that the number of individuals who started the process to sell their property by asking for a valuation via an estate agent’s website in October was 14% higher than it was a year earlier.
Wales has seen the biggest drop in average asking prices over the past month, having fallen 2.4 per cent to £232,166. Average asking prices in the East Midlands and North East England both fell by more than 2%.
In London, asking prices slipped by 0.4 per cent to an average of £647,817 in the past month, while in the South East of England, they fell by 0.6 per cent to £455,563.
The East of England was the only area in the country which saw asking prices creep up over the last few weeks, having risen by 0.5 per cent to £398,116.
Shifts
Across the country, average property prices increased by 10.6 per cent to £264,000 in the year to August, up from an 8.5 per cent rise in July, according to the Office for National Statistics published last month.
Rightmove’s most recent figures show that first-time buyers still suffer from the market. Over the last month, average asking prices for homes for first-time buyers increased by 0.3 per cent, from £210,672 in October to £211,364 this month. Rightmove reported that the average asking price for homes by first-time buyers has increased 5 percent over the past year.
In contrast, the asking price for homes in top markets has been slightly higher than it was the past few weeks. Homes at the top of the property ladder are now 1 per cent lower than they were in October, and are now hovering around the £630,819 mark.
Rightmove has released its latest statistics, showing that the average selling time for homes is now 36 days.
However, the lack of available homes for sale is still a significant problem for industry professionals and buyers. The average number of properties listed by estate agents fell from 49 to 47 in the past week.
Andrew Bailey (the Bank of England’s chief brass) surprised everyone by keeping interest rates at an unprecedented low of 0.1% earlier this month. Many now believe that interest rates may be raised as soon as next month.
A few lenders have raised the rates of their mortgages in anticipation. Now there’s a lot more speculation on what happens to property markets and home prices once higher interest rates are a reality.
The pattern: In most parts of the country, the average asking price has fallen in the last month.
