Asking prices continue their fall in UK
August 19, 2008Monday 18th August 2008
Asking prices on Rightmove are continuing to tumble, and are down by an average of 2.3%,or 5,403,from a month ago.
In London, where the deterioration is most marked, asking prices are down 5.3%, or an average of 21,096.
Properties are also taking far longer to sell, with agents have an average of 78 unsold properties,compared with 77 a month ago, and 63 last December. Yet the number of new listings on Rightmove is just 106,000,a quarter of what is normal for August.
Rightmove blames the mortgage drought and warned that transaction levels may drop to levels not seen since 1959.
Share prices in Rightmove fell 8% on news of the price drops. The fall also followed a story in the business section of a Sunday newspaper which revealed that the paid-for portal will soon have a rival in the form of the National Association of Estate Agents new, free website, Property Live.