It means that confidence is returning to the housing market, according to the latest report from property website Zoopla.
The proportion of properties currently on the market with a reduced asking price now stands at 31.5%, down from 36.7% a year ago and Zoopla says it suggests that fewer sellers are feeling pressured to slash their asking price in order to achieve a sale.
Of those homes that have had their price reduced, the average discount to the original asking price across the country is currently 6.9% or £21,000. Romford has seen the biggest price reductions in the UK at 10.3% followed by Blackpool at 9.9% and Swansea at 9.8%.
However, all of the top 10 areas with the highest proportion of price reduced properties are in the North of the country. Wigan tops the list, with 42.6% of all properties currently on the market having seen at least one price reduction to their asking price followed by Barnsley at 41.2% and Rotherham at 40.9%.
At the other end of the spectrum London has one of the lowest percentages of discounted properties at 26.7%, second only to Swansea where the proportion of discounted properties is low but the level of discounts for those properties that are reduced are amongst the highest in the country.
The Milton Keynes property market would appear to be holding up very well based on the research having both one of the lowest proportions of reduced price properties in the country at 28.2% and also one of the lowest average discounts at 94.9% for those that have been reduced.
‘The number of price reduced properties has fallen to its lowest since early 2010 indicating growing confidence in the market,’ said Lawrence Hall, Zoopla spokesman.
‘But there is still a big regional divide with sellers in the North having to discount more often and by a greater amount as a result of lower demand and fewer would be buyers able to secure financing than in other parts of the country,’ he added.