Proportion of sellers dropping their asking price and time taken to sell a home have both risen
House prices have reached a new record high of £250,000, but there are signs emerging of a slowdown in the market, reports Zoopla.
According to Zoopla’s latest House Price Index, published on May 30th, while the average price of a UK home has reached £250,000 for the first time, the proportion of sellers dropping their asking price and the time taken to sell a home have both risen.
Zoopla said that annual house price inflation was down from 9% in March to 8.4% in April, and it expected this to drop to 3% by the end of the year.
The housing market was “still much busier than pre-pandemic norms”, however signs were emerging that a slowdown in the market was coming.
Zoopla said that from the second half of April, around one in 20 properties have had price reductions of 5% or over, which is an increase from one in 22 properties the month before.
Sellers were also having to wait slightly longer typically to get a sale. Outside London, the average amount of time from a three-bedroom house being put up for sale and a sale being agreed increased from 16 days in March to 18 days in April. In London, this average figure rose from 17 days in March to 21 days in April.
Gráinne Gilmore, Head of Research at Zoopla, said: “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.”
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