What do the latest property market statistics mean for buyers and sellers?
Rightmove’s House Price Index has recorded its largest-ever drop in August house prices since the index started in 2002.
This has substantially cut the annual rate of increase – although new seller asking prices are still 5.3 per cent (+£13,202) higher than they were a year ago.
That’s down from 6.5 per cent last month, and a sharp decline from the highest year-on-year rise of the year, which was 8.9 per cent recorded just three months ago in May.
Activity is usually strongest in the first half of the year, and this year seems to be following that pattern, Rightmove says.
A drop in buyer demand and an 8 per cent increase in property coming to market this month compared to August last year means more competition to sell, so average new seller asking prices have come down for the last two months.
Rightmove analyst Miles Shipside says those looking to buy should remember they are a “scarcer species” in the summer months.
“If they can identify sellers who are keen to sell then there is a better deal to be had in many parts of the country.”
The big drop in new seller asking prices is evidence that those coming to market in the quieter months of summer do so because they are under pressure and are pruning their prices, Shipside says.
“This is not a glut of property for sale or a major price drop drama, though we do expect more holiday season price falls next month before the usual autumn activity flurry.”
