Rightmove records largest November price fall in five years
With Christmas approaching, average new seller asking prices fell by 1.7% in an attempt to attract buyers, according to property listing platform Rightmove.
Asking prices by new sellers dropped by £6,088 this month to £362,143 – a usual trend at this time of the year as serious sellers price more competitively to attract distracted buyers in the lead-up to the holiday season.
While average asking prices are just 3% below May’s peak, this year’s November drop is the largest in five years.
The latest Rightmove House Price Index has also shown that the number of sales being agreed is now 10% below the same period in pre-pandemic 2019, improving from being 15% below 2019’s level last month.
“We’d expect to see a drop in new seller asking prices in the last couple of months of the year, as serious sellers start to separate themselves from discretionary sellers and cut through the Christmas noise with an attractive price to secure a buyer,” commented Tim Bannister, director of property science at Rightmove.
“However, the larger than usual drop this month signals that among the usual pricing seasonality, we are starting to see more new sellers heed their agents’ advice and come to market with more enticing prices to stand out from their over-optimistic competition.
“Buyers are still out there, but for many, their affordability is much reduced due to higher mortgage rates. It now looks like more sellers are understanding Rightmove’s research: that the chances of securing a buyer are much greater if they price right the first time, rather than overpricing and reducing their price later.”
Bannister added that this year has brought many new challenges for buyers, sellers, and agents, the data indicates that there has been more to be positive about in 2023 than many thought there would be at this time last year.
“The upcoming Autumn Statement will now set the tone heading into 2024, particularly if there are any major policy announcements,” he pointed out. “We hope that the government has considered the impact on the market of any new policies, and that any measures introduced help as many movers as possible.
“An announcement as limited as a mortgage guarantee scheme renewal would be a missed opportunity to provide some support to movers, particularly first-time buyers.”
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