Lee Wade, a 31-year-old designer from Streatham, South London, has been trying to sell his studio flat for five months and has been forced to reduce the price by £20,000. He put the flat on the market just before Christmas.

He said: “There was a good response at first but then the market went pear-shaped and people stopped coming.” He estimates that he has had 15 viewings in total, most of them early on. One viewer even put in an offer in late February but withdrew it as reports of a market crash reached fever pitch.

Since March, Streatham in particular has been hit by a retreat by younger buyers working in the City. But Mr Wade thinks that studios are faring particularly badly at present because it is a buyers’ market, so potential purchasers, most of them first-time buyers, can force prices down and get a one-bedroom flat for a similar price as a studio. In the slow-down of the 1990s, studio apartments were quick to lose value for this reason; now, the lack of demand has been exacerbated by the departure of buy-to-let investors from the market.

Mr Wade is looking to buy a one-bedroom flat with the sale of his studio because he needs more space. In early April he reduced the price of his flat to £159,950 and further dropped the price to £149,950 two weeks ago. He is considering waiting until next spring before a second attempt to sell.