London sellers take the lead in cutting asking prices for homes
The latest Rightmove figures providing information on what sellers are asking for their homes suggest there has been a swift downward turn in the London market, with more than £20,000 cut from average asking prices between July and August.
This adds another hint to hints we picked up in the recent RICS figures that London may be set for a rather swifter correction in house prices having held up rather better to date than other parts of the country.
In turn it also adds support a view I have heard from various experts that, as a more dynamic housing market, London may see its housing market correct more quickly rather than endure a slower correction over a longer period, if a house price correction is inevitable.
Certainly the falls in London asking prices in the August figures from Rightmove are significantly larger than for the national figures.
But overall, the message one might take from the Rightmove figures is that house sellers are adjusting their expectations downward. This then poses the question of whether the drop so far is enough to meet the prices buyers are now willing and able to pay.
There is a growing view that the biggest problem with the current housing market is less falling prices and more the very low level of property transactions. Simply put, there needs to be more buyers and more sellers willing doing deals.
So something has to give. And with cash hard to come by it looks from where we are now that the give will have to be on the side of the sellers.
So from that perspective the Rightmove figures can be seen as good news.