The number of homeowners selling their properties has dropped by 43 per cent in the past year, as falling house prices deter potential sellers.

There are 20,000 properties coming to the market each week, down from 35,000 a year ago, according to the website Rightmove. It reported a decline of 2.9 per cent in asking prices this month, to £222,979, but said that tighter constraints on mortgage availability were likely to ease next year.

The amount that homeowners hope to achieve in a sale has fallen by 7.1 per cent this year, the biggest annual decline recorded by Rightmove since it began compiling figures in 2002.

Asking prices in Wales and the North West of England have fallen the most in the past year, down by 11.2 per cent and 9.3 per cent respectively, against a more muted 5.4 per cent decline in London. However, estate agents are reporting that buyers are knocking as much as 20 per cent off peak prices.

Halifax reported a 2.2 per cent decline in prices last month, bringing the average price paid for a property down to £168,176.

Rightmove said that the number of properties being sold per estate agency had fallen from 77 to 73 between July and October, as disenchanted sellers withdrew their homes from the market. It said that the cost of a home information pack, around £300 for the energy performance certificate, was also dissuading sellers.

It added that mainstream buyers were still being forced out of the market by constraints on the availability of mortgages but that this was likely to ease some time next year.

Miles Shipside, a director at Rightmove, said: “Whenever it does, there is likely to be a degree of pent-up demand fuelled by historically cheap borrowing and cheaper property, lessening the advantage of those in a privileged position to proceed now.”