‘Property market slowing down’

The time taken to sell a property has increased to the highest level for more than a year, according to a company which analyses UK housing market information.

During the past five months there has been a fall in demand for houses up for sale, which has pushed prices down, Hometrack said.

It now takes an average of 8.9 weeks to sell a property, the highest level for more than a year, the group said.

The situation is hitting sellers, who are now receiving a lower proportion of their asking price, dropping from 94% in July to 93.5%.

Richard Donnell, director of research at Hometrack, said: “The unmistakable fact is that the availability of homes for sale has improved markedly and this has reduced the support for house prices provided by the scarcity of housing for sale over 2009 and early 2010.

“This comes at a time when there is growing weakness on the demand side – a weakness which represents more than just a seasonal blip.”

He added: “We expect further modest price falls in the coming months.”

But there are some reasons to be cheerful among the otherwise bleak figures, with the number of sales agreed modestly rising by 0.8% during the month.

Copyright Press Association 2010