Homeowners are resorting to increasingly aggressive price cuts in an effort to sell their properties, with asking prices across England and Wales an average £4,000 less than they were a year ago as a new realism sets in across the housing market.

The average price is now £235,219, 2 per cent less than last July, according to the Rightmove website.

The gloomiest sellers — in the East Midlands — are asking £11,011 less than a year ago, a drop of 6 per cent, while those in the North and the West Midlands have reduced asking prices by £7,906 (4.9 per cent) and £9,609 (4.8 per cent), respectively.

Asking prices have fluctuated in the past year as sellers have struggled to come to terms with the end of a decade-long housing boom, but Rightmove, which publishes a monthly survey of the homes it lists for sale, has recorded the first annual fall in prices since the survey began six years ago.

It also shows a dip in recent weeks. The value of flats has been hit hardest in the past month, down 4 per cent, while semi-detached and terraced homes are 3.7 and 3.1 per cent lower. Detached homes are holding relatively steady, at 1.8 per cent lower than last month.

The survey reflects owners’ aspirations rather than the sale price of homes, but separate research by Hometrack, the property data company, has suggested that buyers are paying on average 91.6 per cent of the asking price. A year ago they paid 95.1 per cent.

Miles Shipside, Rightmove’s commercial director, said: “Sellers are finally recognising that they need to undercut rivals from the outset, rather than testing the market and dropping prices later. It could be a lot better outcome to price aggressively and sell now, rather than accept a bigger reduction later as prices continue to fall.”

Agents at the top end of the market have reported that the decline has spread to prime properties in Central London. However, Rightmove says London sellers are continuing to hold out and that asking prices of homes in the capital appear to have edged up 0.3 per cent in the four weeks to July 12. Mr Shipside said: “Sellers still seem to be disregarding the brutal fact that potential buyers’ sentiment and affordability has taken a severe knock.”

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