Average house price dropped £4,000 since 2007

22 July 2008

Desperate homeowners make aggressive price cuts to sell properties

According to Rightmove, the property website, house prices have dropped by an average of £4,000 in England and Wales over the past 12 months.

The average property price is now £235,219, 2 per cent less than July 2007.

Rightmove figures have shown that the most drastic of price cuts have been made in the East Midlands, with property prices £11,011 less than this time last year – a drop of 6 per cent.

Over the course of the past year, asking prices on properties have fluctuated because sellers have struggled with the end of a 10-year housing boom. However, this is the first time in the six-year history of the Rightmove survey, which details the homes it lists for sale, that an annual decrease in house prices has been observed.

The survey also showed a particular drop in house prices in recent weeks. The value of flats has seen a 4 per cent decrease over the past month. Semi-detached and terraced properties have decreased in value by 3.7 and 3.1 per cent respectively while detached properties have only decreased by 1.8 per cent since last month.

Miles Shipside, commercial director at Rightmove, said: “Sellers are finally recognising that they need to undercut rivals from the outset, rather than testing the market and dropping prices later.

“It could be a lot better outcome to price aggressively and sell now, rather than accept a bigger reduction later as prices continue to fall,” he added.