Fall in asking prices blamed on holidays

According to a recent report there has been a fall in asking prices in the UK, and this has been blamed on the holidays, and the fact that sellers now have even fewer people that may express an interest in their properties because many are away on their holidays. A survey was carried out by property website Right Move, showing that asking prices had been falling.

Officials from Right Move have said that the number of new property listings outnumbered the level of mortgage approvals by a ratio of 5:2. Over recent months there have been a rising number of people that have been putting their properties up for sale, in part due to the controversial Home Information Packs being scrapped by the coalition government according to some officials.

However, whilst the number of properties going up for sale has increased the number of prospective buyers has been falling with a number of obstacles as well as falling consumer confidence affecting the number of people that are willing or able to buy a property at present. This has had a knock on effect on asking prices, resulting in many sellers reducing the amount that they are asking for.

The West Midlands is said to have seen the sharpest fall in asking prices, which fell by 4.4 percent recently, and this was followed by London, which saw a 4.1 percent fall in property prices. Officials have said that over-supply compared to demand has caused the drop in asking prices, and one official said that there needed to be a surge in potential buyers for house prices to increase.

Miles Shipside from Right Move said: “There needs to be a spur to cause prices to rise. However, as mortgages will not become available to the masses and last year’s stock shortages show no sign of reappearing, we cannot see it happening during the remainder of 2010.”