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Buyers’ market to pull house prices down
19 July 2010
Published by Mortgage Solutions House price gains made in the first half of 2010 are set to be wiped out, due to aggressive pricing and a flood of new sellers coming to market, Rightmove has claimed. Rightmove revealed that new-to-market sellers reduced their asking prices for the first time this year by 0.6% in July, with the national average asking price now at £236,332. With the first month-on-month fall in asking prices, Rightmove predicted that further pressure on new sellers’ asking prices will see the 7% increase in asking prices in the first six months of 2010 disappear. National averages will also fall by a similar amount, it said. Miles Shipside, commercial director of Rightmove, said: “More aggressive pricing is now the order of the day, which means that conditions are ripe for a strong buyers’ market in the second half of 2010. This is likely to see the average price gains of 7% for the first half of the year wiped out by year-end, in line with our original forecast for the year of no net change in prices.” New seller numbers are outstripping mortgage approvals by five to two, with 30,000 properties coming to market each week, up 45% on July last year, compared to 11,000 mortgage approvals a week. The number of unsold homes per agent has increased almost 25% in the first half of 2010, and estate agents now report the highest stock levels since August 2008. Shipside said: “Sellers are going to have to price at bargain levels and bullishly promote their properties in order to stand out from the crowd. Those that act quickly will be able to lock-in some of the price gains made in the last 18 months.” Visit the link below to leave your comments in the forum... http://www.cherryplc.co.uk/members/index.php?p=forum&fid=149&tid=10342&dw=showpost
