House asking prices fall again

Rightmove has reported that new homes coming onto the market are continuing to outstrip buyer demand, as the holiday season continues.

According to the property portal, the average asking price of a UK home has fallen 1.7% (to £232,241) across the 117,000 properties added to the firm’s website in August, compared with a month earlier.

The £4,091 reduction is the biggest measured this year and follows on from a new asking price drop of 0.6%, in July.

Furthermore, average available properties per estate agency branch have increased for the sixth consecutive month, to 79, up from 77 in Rightmove’s July report.

The firm’s director and spokesman, Miles Shipside, points out that sellers usually only come to market in August when they feel they must, indicating many have a “compelling need” to sell.

He also suggest that homeowners who marketed earlier in the year, but have yet to find a buyer, may have to do a bit of “pruning” on price to beat the new competition.

With asking prices having risen 7% from January to June but fallen back by 2.3% in the last two months, Mr Shipside is predicting that the gains made so far in 2010 will have dissipated by year end.