It’s buyers market in London as property asking prices slashed

Over a third of properties in London have undergone price reduction in July, findings by London-based Onyx Property Consultants have shown.  While this suggests an oversupply relative to the number of buyers, the company believes that buyers are still out there, but they are more cautious than ever.

“Sellers need to be extremely realistic as to what it will take to get their home sold in an uncertain market”, says Ugochukwu Arinze, Onyx Property CEO. A new research by HouseSimple.com notes that many vendors in London are now reducing the asking price of their homes by tens of thousands of pounds as the housing market continues to stall.

This provides rare opportunities for investors who would like to take advantage of this market slump more so as over a third (35.3 percent) of homes on the market in the capital has, so far this month, undergone a price reduction, fresh data from the online estate agent shows.

But Gary Rosenthal, a property sales agent, warns that government needs to get a grip on the declining movement in property sales which continues to be a significant problem within London, adding that the penal cost of stamp duty needs to be addressed and maybe a two-year reduction or total holiday, to help mitigate the curse of Brexit uncertainty, might be a way forward.

“Price reductions have taken place within my area (Borough of Islington) yet this is no guarantee that a buyer will be found. Having been in the residential sales market for over thirty years, I have seen many market changes but this current situation is unprecedented”, Rosenthal said.

Arinze observed that almost half, 45.8 percent, of properties in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames, in south-west London, have seen prices cut – more than any other borough.

The data, which is based on Zoopla price reduction statistics for all 32 London boroughs, show that Newham recorded the lowest proportion of price reductions at 25.7 percent.

“These figures only support the view that the London property market has run out of steam; agents are dropping prices to persuade cautious buyers to purchase in an economic climate where it’s difficult to predict what’s going to happen next”, Alex Gosling, HouseSimple.com chief executive, commented.

Continuing, Gosling noted that “what’s unusual about the level of discounted properties is that it would suggest there are too many sellers and not enough buyers. But strangely this market is still suffering from a lack of new supply”.

“There are actually plenty of buyers looking, but they’re a different buyer from 12 months ago. They are more cautious and viewing multiple properties before making a decision”, he added.

CHUKA UROKO