City workers are rushing to offload their Canary Wharf apartments amid job losses in the financial sector, according to figures from Rightmove.

There has been a 12.4 per cent rise in properties up for sale in the borough of Tower Hamlets, east London, home to Canary Wharf and the Docklands. The number of properties for sale for between £750,000 and £1 million in these postcodes has doubled in the past month, the website's latest asking price index showed.

Rightmove said that the levels were “unseasonably” high and indicated that concerned sellers were being forced to sell their higher-value homes. It blamed the sudden rush for the 0.4 per cent increase in London asking prices over the past four weeks, from £390,340 to £391,721.

Miles Shipside, commercial director of Rightmove, said: “Such an influx of properties in a higher value band in no way suggests a price recovery, merely a degree of distress among those seeking a higher asking price. Those employed in the financial services sector have been especially hard hit by employment uncertainty and job losses, and a natural casualty is their homes. City workers and investors often own smart apartments near Canary Wharf and more of these coming to market explains the jump in average values.”

Asking prices in the rest of the country continued to fall, down by 2.3 per cent in the past month, with 68,000 home sellers cutting the price they hoped their home would fetch by an average £4,829, to try to achieve a sale before Christmas. Sellers in the South East, the East Midlands and the North have reduced the amount they are prepared to accept the most - by 5 per cent since November. The average asking price has fallen by £14,888 or 6.3 per cent in the past year, Rightmove said.

The index showed that asking prices were more than 10 per cent, or £24,692, below their May 2008 peak. However, agents are reporting that the level at which properties are selling is likely to be 25 per cent lower than the peak, with some canny buyers securing discounts of up to 50 per cent.

The website forecast that 2009 would be “the year of the property deal”, with a growing number of potential bargains on offer as those in financial distress try to sell up. About one in five properties currently on the market are for sale because the owners cannot afford their mortgages, according to a survey by the National Association of Estate Agents, while about 168,000 homeowners are already in arrears on their home loan.

Mr Shipside said: “Sadly, the best buys will be at the expense of personal distress, but to the gain of the cash rich who have been sitting on the sidelines. These include those who sold up close to the peak and are now waiting for the right time to enter the market.”

Job losses pose one of the biggest threats to the health of the housing market over the next 12 months, with unemployment predicted to reach three million by the end of 2010, according to Capital Economics, the research consultancy. The number of financial sector job losses is expected to reach 100,000, with City workers accounting for half this figure.

Mike Bickerton, associate director of DTZ, the London estate agent, said: “People are panicking and putting the flats on the market, but whether they will get a good price for them is another matter. We expect to see the job losses continue to affect the market for at least the next 12 months.”