Asking prices take another tumble

News Category: Industry News

Asking prices for new properties listed on Rightmove tumbled 1.5% over the last month, the site reported this morning. At the same time, the Council of Mortgage Lenders said that mortgage lending in August was the lowest for ten years.

CML chief economic Bob Pannell warned: "We face the prospect of a difficult second half of the year."

On Rightmove, the average asking price demanded by a new seller is now just under £400,000 in London for the first time since September last year.

Asking prices on Rightmove have now fallen three months in a row and are now £8,016 lower than in June.

But standing at a startling £229,767, the average asking price still remains yawningly larger than the average sold price of around £167,000 being reported by the Land Registry, Halifax and Nationwide.

For the first time, Rightmove today also issued an explanation as to how it arrives at its asking price index – which it does by simply averaging the asking price of all new properties coming to the market in England and Wales.

On average, 30,000 to 40,000 new properties for sale are listed each week on Rightmove, which the site believes is the biggest sample used for any index.

A spokesman for Rightmove said that the explanation had been issued as a result of journalists’ inquiries, following the Government announcement that it has asked its chief statistician to investigate house price surveys in view of their widely differing, yet supposedly authoritative, statistics.

So far in September, the number of new properties listed on Rightmove has fallen to 26,000 properties per week – the lowest weekly run rate since April. Unsold stock stands at 79 per agent – unaltered since last month, but a record high. 

Rightmove admitted that this morning’s report supported arguments both for and against a double dip kicking in.

But it concluded that it was more an autumn short-term blip than a serious double dip.


Article courtesy of Estate Agent Today Sign up for EAT newsletter