Research released by property website Zoopla reveals that only 31% of properties on the market today have had their asking prices cut since first being listed, down significantly from 40% in November 2011.
Preston tops the list of places with the most discounted properties on the market while London has the lowest proportion of price reduced properties and the biggest average discounts are in Liverpool and the smallest in Plymouth and Edinburgh.
Overall the level of the reduction in asking prices has also fallen over the last two years. Sellers who were discounting their properties to try to achieve a sale in November 2011 were doing so at an average of 7.4% of the original price. The average reduction today stands at 6.4% of the original price.
Preston has the highest proportion of discounted properties currently with 43% of homes for sale having been reduced in price since coming onto the market. Yorkshire towns dominate the remainder of the top five places with the biggest proportion of reduced price properties on the market with Rotherham at 42%, Wakefield & Barnsley at 41% and Doncaster at 40%.
London tops the list of places with the lowest proportion of price reduced properties on the market at 20%, as a result of high demand and low stock in the capital. Bedford at 25% has the second lowest proportion of discounted properties for sale with Milton Keynes home to the third lowest proportion at 28%.
The biggest average discounts on offer the original asking prices are to be found in Liverpool, with an average current asking price reduction of 8.6% or £14,149. The smallest discounts are being offered in Plymouth and Edinburgh, where sellers who have dropped prices have done so by only 5.5% on average.
‘Confidence in the property market is at its highest level since the start of the economic downturn and this is reinforced with fewer sellers feeling the pressure to lower their expectations and drop prices,’ said Lawrence Hall of Zoopla.
‘With the typical New Year rush of buyer demand likely to be made even more acute by the boost of the second phase of the government’s Help to Buy scheme, sellers expectations could rise further in the coming months. The only thing that could upset the trend is if there is a significant rise in level of stock coming to the market,’ he added.
