House sellers slash prices by up to 20pc

PROPERTY sellers are being forced to cut asking prices as much as 20pc as the housing market slows.

The share of homes advertised with discounted asking prices jumped across Britain this month as buyers call time on the property boom, says Zoopla.

The biggest discounts were in markets that recorded the steepest house price growth over the last two years.

Scotland’s market had the largest average discount of 18.8pc – equivalent to £34,000 off the typical home.

The share of sellers cutting their prices by at least 5pc rose from 2.8pc to 3.4pc in the month to May 22, according to the Office for National Statistics.

Wales came in second place. The share of properties with price cuts of at least 5pc jumped from 4.5pc to 5pc over the same time period, with an average discount of 11.1pc. This meant buyers could save £22,866. House price growth in Scotland and Wales in February was 11.7pc and 14.2pc, respectively, far higher than the UK average of 10.9pc as buyers raced to lock in cheap mortgage deals ahead of rising interest rates.

Experts say sellers being forced to reduce their asking prices by thousands of pounds is a sign that the market has reached peak prices.

The North East had the largest share of sellers knocking money off their asking prices, up from 5.1pc to 6.2pc, or equal to one in every 16 advertised homes.

The average price cut was 10pc. In the South West the share of sellers discounting homes by at least 5pc jumped from 4.3pc to 4.8pc, with typical price cuts at 9.5pc. In the South East, the average cut was 8.3pc.

In London, which consistently recorded the slowest pace of house price growth in the UK in the pandemic, the share of sellers offering price cuts rose from 5pc to 5.3pc, but the typical discount was the smallest in the UK.