Sellers forced to cut house prices by £22,500

People who are hoping to sell their homes are being forced to drop the asking price by £22,500, and it is taking longer to procure a buyer.  

Although average house prices surpassed £250,000 for the first time in April 2022, Zoopla’s house price index has found the rate of growth is dropping. In the year to April, prices had risen by 8.4%. Zoopla said it will now slow to three percent by the end of 2022.  

It found 5.1% of sellers – one in 20 – are having to reduce their asking price by five percent or more to sell it. This compares with one in 22 in April. 

The average price reduction of nine percent equates to about £22,500. Zoopla also found the average time taken to agree a sale had dropped to 18 days, compared with 16 days in March 2022. 

Gráinne Gilmore, head of research at Zoopla, said: “High levels of buyer demand mean that the market is still moving quickly, but the time to sell – the time taken between listing a property and agreeing a sale – is starting to rise across most property types in most locations. 

“We expect that this measure will continue to rise during the rest of the year as buyer demand levels start to fall, punctured by changing sentiment around the cost of living and personal finances. Another signal that the market is starting to soften is the number of properties where asking prices are being cut by more than five percent.” 

Nationally demand from buyers continues to outstrip supply and it is highest in the east midlands, according to Zoopla’s figures. 

Vincent Dennington, regional director of John D Wood, added that house price reductions “may also be a sign that properties have been initially overpriced and are not achieving any interest from potential buyers, therefore needing to be adjusted correctly to ensure a reduction generates new interest and ultimately offers”.  
 
Dennington concluded: “Typically, reductions should move to at least five percent lower than that of the current marketing price.”