Uncertainty causes average house prices to fall

In Scotland, average asking prices are down by 1.3 per cent month-on-month, now averaging £151,209, while in Wales they have fallen by 1.2 per cent, reaching £192,441 on average.

Across Britain, the average price of newly-marketed property is now 0.2 per cent or £607 lower than it was 12 months ago, Rightmove said.

It is the first year-on-year fall in average asking prices since November 2011, according to Rightmove’s index.

Average asking prices have dropped by over £5,000 in the past month alone – potentially giving some house hunters an early Christmas gift.

In November, the average price tag on a home stood at £302,023 – £5,222 or 1.7 per cent less than the average asking price of £307,245 in October – Rightmove found.

The website said that while it is usual for sellers’ asking prices to decrease in the run-up to Christmas, it is the largest month-on-month price fall it has seen in any November month since 2012.

It suggested new sellers are pricing more realistically in effort to hold financially stretched buyers’ attention amid Brexit uncertainty.

All nations and regions across Britain saw asking prices fall this month, according to Rightmove’s index.

Yorkshire and the Humber saw the biggest month-on-month price fall, at 2.4 per cent, followed by the South East of England, where asking prices fell by 2.1 per cent.

In London, new sellers’ asking prices fell by 1.7 per cent or £10,793 in November. Rightmove said London generally sees greater seasonal price volatility than elsewhere.

The North East and North West of England saw the smallest month-on-month asking price falls, with average price tags in these regions decreasing by 0.6 per cent.

Miles Shipside, director of Rightmove, said: “New sellers and their agents are reacting to market forces and lowering their pricing aspirations by more and sooner than  usual.

“Stretched buyer affordability and the cooling markets in the South and in upper price brackets have combined with the ongoing political uncertainty to change pricing optimism into pricing realism.

“This is a welcome effort by sellers to minimise the usual pre-Christmas market slowdown.

“Some new-to-the-market sellers and their agents have acted early to try to improve the buying mood and avoid the traditional ‘buyer humbug’ dislike of Christmas housing activity.”