Home sellers in the South East of England and particularly in the capital are asking too much for their properties, new research shows.
Given the good property market performance last year, Londoners’ expectations about how much they should get for the sale of their home have risen.
However, the asking prices are too high for buyers and unsold properties pile up, the Asking Price Index of Home.co.uk for February 2015 shows.
While the sale prices increased 14.6 per cent year-on-year in February, the time unsold properties remained on the market shot up by 51 per cent in annual terms.
In a regional comparison, there was significant growth in asking prices only in Greater London, the South East and the East. Otherwise, prices stagnated or recorded marginal rises in most of the other regions.
Nevertheless, the confidence in London and the East/South East was enough to push up average prices across the country. They grew by 7.1 per cent as compared to February 2014.
The average asking price for a residential property in the UK now stands at £268,176.
| Region | Avg Asking Price in February 2015 | Change from Feb’14 (annual, %) | Change from Jan’15 (monthly, %) |
| Greater London | £486,889 | 14.6% | 1.8% |
| South East | £347,492 | 7.7% | 1.4% |
| East | £282,522 | 7.7% | 0.9% |
| East Midlands | £193,108 | 4.9% | -0.1% |
| South West | £280,293 | 4.5% | 0.2% |
| Scotland | £164,853 | 4.4% | 1.9% |
| West Midlands | £204,108 | 4.2% | 0.7% |
| Yorks & The Humber | £171,610 | 2.1% | 0.2% |
| North West | £176,034 | 1.5% | -0.2% |
| Wales | £179,337 | 1.0% | -0.1% |
| North East | £152,200 | 0.1% | -0.9% |
| England & Wales | £268,176 | 7.1% | 0.8% |
