Prices slashed on a third of homes for autumn sale

MORE than a third of homes up for sale have had their prices slashed, it was revealed yesterday.

Many hope reducing the price will result in buyers selecting their house as this year’s “must-have Christmas gift”.

Some 37 per cent of properties on website Rightmove are now for sale at a lower price, marking the highest proportion in autumn for five years. The average reduction is 6.3 per cent.

Rightmove director Miles Shipside said: “In the run-up to the festive season, many sellers are trying to tempt distracted buyers to look at their property by dangling the bauble of more attractive pricing.

“The effect is an impromptu autumn sale with the largest proportion of sellers on the market having reduced their initial asking prices at this time of year since 2012.”

He said the high proportion of properties having their original asking price reduced suggests some sellers and their agents are overpricing.

Homes that sell typically generate more than 40 per cent more online interest in the first three weeks than those that fail to spark interest. Mr Shipside said: “The danger of going too high at the outset is that you jeopardise that vital initial three-week period.

“You may have to start on a series of price reductions while potential buyers watch and assume that no one is buying your property because something is wrong with it.”

Lucy Pendleton, of estate agents James Pendleton, in south-west London, said: “By dropping the asking price in increments all you succeed in doing is making your property look stale and unwanted.

“There are also far too many vendors in London who think a reduction of £10,000 is enough.

“This barely moves the needle when you turn it into a percentage.

“A reduction should be in the order of at least five per cent.”

Across England and Wales, the average asking price for a home coming on to the market in November is £311,043 – down 0.8 per cent on October.