If you are trying to sell your house then you probably know how difficult the property market is right now.
More and more of you are resorting to increasingly aggressive price cuts in an effort to sell your properties.
This is due to asking prices across the UK being an average £4,000 less than they were a year ago as reality begins to hit the housing market.
The latest monthly survey from the property website Rightmove says the number of unsold properties has reached record levels as the market grinds to a halt. The average price is now £235,219, 2% less than last July. That was the second monthly fall in succession after a drop of £3,000 in June.
The gloomiest sellers (those of you in the East Midlands) are now asking £11,011 less in their asking price of a year ago. which is a drop of 6%.
Meanwhile those of you in the North and the West Midlands have reduced your asking prices by £7,906 (4.9%) and £9,609 (4.8%), respectively.
It is hardly surprising that prices have fluctuated in the past year as those of you desperate to sell have struggled to come to terms with the end of the decade-long housing boom.
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Rightmove, which publishes a monthly survey of the homes it lists for sale, has just recorded the first annual fall in house prices since the survey began 6 years ago.
It also shows a dip in recent weeks as you can see by the following % drops in different types of property in the last month:
Flats –4%
Semi-detached –3.7%
Terraced homes –3.1%
Detached homes –1.8%
The survey reflects owners’ aspirations rather than the sale price of homes, but separate research by Hometrack, the property data company, has suggested that those of you buying are paying on average 91.6% of the asking price; compare this with 12 months ago when you were paying 95.1%.
Mark Shipside, commercial director at Rightmove, said:
"Sellers are finally recognising that they need to undercut their rivals from the outset, rather than testing the market and dropping prices later. Sellers' pricing needs to be at the level where deals are being done. It could be a lot better outcome to price aggressively and sell now, rather than accept a bigger reduction later as prices continue to fall."
- Mortgage problems hinder buyers
The Rightmove survey said estate agents had an average 77 properties for sale, up from 74 in June; the sixth monthly increase in a row. But the rise in numbers was not due to new instructions, which are also at historical lows; 30,000 a week compared with 37,000 a week last year. Instead, it reflects the lack of buyers, in large part because the credit crunch has made it more difficult for you would-be homeowners to get a mortgage.
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In addition, properties are now spending an average 87 days on the market before being sold, up from 83 days in June.
Shipside said any meaningful increase in the number of homes being sold would need a U-turn by banks over their mortgage lending policies. "Banks need to be careful they do not get blamed for a second crash in 20 years," he said.
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The property market is definitely in a state of turmoil right now. It's especially difficult if you are trying to sell your property; you are now having to drop your asking price by an average of £4,000. Is it going to get worse as house prices continue to fall?