According to industry professionals many homeowners with their properties up for sale are now struggling to actually find a buyer for their home because they are refusing to be flexible on price. A flurry of homeowners are trying to sell up before the property price fall that has been predicted comes to fruition, but because they are being stubborn on their asking prices overstretched buyers are struggling to afford to buy. This is resulting in longer timescales when it comes to selling homes, and more properties clogging up estate agency books.

Officials from Right Move, the property specialist, have stated that the average estate agent now has around 64 properties up for sale compared to 54 one year ago. The timescale for shifting these properties has increased from an average 78 days one year ago to an average of 93 days, which reflects a rise of almost two weeks.

One official from Right Move stated: ‘Most sellers obviously want to achieve as much as possible for their property, and traditionally they have chosen to test the market at an ambitious price in February, as they have plenty of time to adjust it down later. This is normally compounded by estate agents being eager to have fresh property on their books and sellers tempted to try a higher figure.’

He added: ‘Yet the current concerns in the capital’s financial sector appear to be restraining the traditionally high levels of seller and agent optimism normally seen at this time of year.’

Experts have been warning homeowners to expect a rocky year in terms of the housing market, with house price inflation set to continue falling and with affordability for most buyers still causing problems due to higher living costs even through interest rates have come down.

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