Vendors Urged to Cut Prices
Vendors must cut prices further to breathe life back into the property market, according to Rightmove, which reported slight falls in asking prices and continued drops in market activity this month.

Life has been ?squeezed out of the market?, and vendors should cut prices further to tempt buyers back, Rightmove.co.uk has warned. Asking prices for the 70,000 properties on the Rightmove website are down 0.3% - just £600 ? this month. However, prices must fall a further 6%-8% to bring borrowing costs back to the levels they were before the market ?turned?, the property website said. It sees the market stagnating, with the average time properties spend on the market up from 53 days in May to 81 days during December, and estate agents? stock levels have gradually increased this month to an average of 67 properties per branch from 49 properties in January. Annual asking price inflation is also down this month, from 11.6% to 10.9%. Rightmove?s commercial director, Miles Shipside, expects more falls as the market continues to readjust and estate agents advise serious sellers to take positive action to attract reluctant buyers back. However, although prices need to come down, Mr Shipside does not predict a crash, thanks to the sound economic environment and the likelihood that interest rates have reached their peak. ?Homeowners who want to sell need to be much more realistic with their asking prices if they want to persuade buyers back into the market. Even once the quieter holiday period is over, sellers will find themselves competing with a lot of other properties on the market. In any business, excess supply and low demand means one thing ? cut prices,? said Mr Shipside.
Sign up for the Country Life Newsletter
Exquisite houses, the beauty of Nature, and how to get the most from your life, straight to your inbox.
Country Life is unlike any other magazine: the only glossy weekly on the newsstand and the only magazine that has been guest-edited by HRH The King not once, but twice. It is a celebration of modern rural life and all its diverse joys and pleasures — that was first published in Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee year. Our eclectic mixture of witty and informative content — from the most up-to-date property news and commentary and a coveted glimpse inside some of the UK's best houses and gardens, to gardening, the arts and interior design, written by experts in their field — still cannot be found in print or online, anywhere else.
-
The century-old enamelling technique used to create Van Cleef's lucky ladybird brooch — which has something in common with Country Life
The technique used in the jeweller's Geneva workshop has been put to good use in its latest creation.
By Hetty Lintell Published
-
‘The best sleep in the sky’: What it’s like to fly in United’s Polaris cabin, approved by American icon Martha Stewart
United’s Business Class cabin goes by the name Polaris and Martha Stewart is a fan. So, how does it fare?
By Rosie Paterson Published