UK house prices drop as motivated sellers slash asking prices
UK house prices dipped in June amid a jump in the number of homes coming to the market.
New asking prices fell by 0.3 per cent to £378,240 in June amid a “decade-high” competition to secure buyers, according to Rightmove’s latest house price index.
Prices are now 0.8 per cent ahead of this time last year.
“Agents have been telling us that sellers need to set a competitive price to have a better chance of finding a buyer in the current market, and it looks like many are listening and responding to that message, Colleen Babcock, property expert at Rightmove, said.
Buyer demand was up three per cent year on year in June, while the number of homes coming to the market has risen 11 per cent year on year, Rightmove found.
Tomer Aboody, director of specialist lender MT Finance, said that with the economy “potentially taking a negative turn”, sellers are realising that “if they are serious about selling, they need to be open to offers or price correctly in the first instance.”
Aboody added that sellers are “more motivated” to sell as buyers want to “take advantage of lower mortgage rates.”
“Buyers are eagerly waiting to see whether further rate cuts will come, which will lessen the impact of potentially higher stamp duty costs,” he said.
The north of England continued to outperform the south, with higher-priced southern properties more affected by an increase in stamp duty.
“Underneath the headline figures, we can see regional variations in price changes this month, which appear closely linked to buyer affordability and supply levels,” Babcock said.
The higher-priced South West, South East and London regions saw the largest price drops month on month, as well as the largest increases in available homes for sale compared to last year.
The price of the average home at the ‘top of the ladder’ fell by 0.8 per cent month on month, while ‘first-time buyer’ homes fell by 0.4 per cent.