London house prices: Desperate sellers knock £20k off asking prices
According to the latest report from Zoopla, property sellers in London have been shaving as much as £19,500 off asking prices to secure a sale, which could be a warning sign for house prices in the capital.
In London, sellers accepted an average discount from the asking price of 4.6 per cent in March, although better than the 6.1 per cent recorded in November, the persistent discount showed confidence has been slow to return to the capital’s property market.
However, the property website also said supply in London has grown, with an eight per cent increase noted in the number of homes coming on the market.
Richard Donnell, executive director at Zoopla said: “Rising wages and falling mortgage rates have boosted consumer confidence and this is feeding into improving levels of housing market activity over the first quarter of 2024.
“House prices are falling at a slower rate but it remains a buyers market where there is much greater choice of homes for sale.”
“Sellers need to remain realistic on where they set the asking price if they are to take advantage of improving market conditions to secure a sale and move home in 2024.”
Similar trends of narrowing asking prices were also reported across the whole of the UK.
On average, sellers accepted a median average discount to the asking price of £10,000, down from £14,250 last November.
Annual house price inflation also fell by 0.3 per cent across the UK up from a recent low of -1.4 per cent.
In London, the figure fell by 0.4 per cent, with the average cost of a home costing £534k.
Zoopla said it expects the current trends in house prices to continue into the second half of the year as prices “continue to adjust to higher mortgage rates and reduced buying power.”
The housing market has shown signs of resilience this year despite the costs of mortgage deals.
Matt Thompson, head of sales at Chestertons, said: “In March, the property market witnessed steady demand from buyers although some house hunters decided to pause their search in the hope for major incentives to be announced in the Spring Budget.
“As this wasn’t the case, the majority of these buyers have since resumed their property search. As a result, March concluded the first quarter of the year with a busy property market – particularly in the capital where demand continues to outstrip supply.”