Bloated listings as buyers can't find funds, say Rightmove

New sellers now outnumber new mortgage approvals by 5.2, Rightmove reported this morning, while the number of unsold number of properties sticking on agents’ books has jumped by almost 25% in the first six months of this year.

Rightmove – which has some 90% market share – reports that more than 30,000 new properties are coming to the market each week, up by 45% on last July.

Asking prices for properties new to the market are, however, finally dropping. Rightmove reports that over the last month, they have come down by 0.6% – the first fall this year.

But with the average asking price now £236,332, there is still a huge gap between sellers’ expectations and the reality of mortgage-approved prices as reported by Halifax and Nationwide. Halifax is quoting £166,203 and Nationwide £170,111.

Rightmove is, however, forecasting more falls in asking prices as the year goes on.

Commercial director Miles Shipside said: “The number of new mortgages being approved each month is less than half the number of new sellers, with the imbalance being exacerbated by the increase of nearly 50% in the number of properties coming to the market compared to a year ago.

“More aggressive pricing is now the order of the day.”

He went on: “Estate agents are suffering from podgy portfolios and buyers’ fitness to purchase is in correspondingly poor shape.

“With agents beginning to choke on a surfeit of new stock, sellers are going to have to price at bargain levels.”

He warned: “The tradition of testing the water at a higher figure before reducing at a later date will backfire in areas of excess supply, as over-ambitious sellers will have to cut back even more as they chase prices downwards.” (source www.estateagenttoday.co.uk)

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