UK asking prices continue to fall..

Here at Globrix we're still keenly tracking those asking prices and it has become clear that since our last data release, asking prices have continued to fall.

So where is the best area in the UK to pick up a property at a rock-bottom price?

According to our most bang-up-to-date stats, Southend-On-Sea is the top location in the UK right now if you’re looking to pick up a bargain. In the past week alone (w/c 28th November 2008), 2.9% of sellers in the seaside resort have cut their original asking prices, a higher percentage than anywhere else in the country. This means for bargain hunters looking for a steal, Southend-on-Sea is the place to look, with 33 properties reduced in price by an average of £11,075 since Friday 28th November.

In the latest list of bargain hotspots, Southend-on-Sea is followed by Bedford (2.3%), where 38 properties have been reduced by an average of £23,831 in the past week, and Colchester (1.9%), where 52 properties have had an average of £11,430 knocked off the price since 28th November.

But in which large towns have price cuts been the sharpest?

Sellers in Cambridge appear to have had a major reality check over the past week: while only 0.6% of the properties in the famous University town have had their prices cut since 28th November, the average price cut was a massive 16.6%, or £42,772. Property price cuts in Stoke-On-Trent came the closest to Cambridge. The average price cut over the past week was 9.2%, or £9,588. In third place was Northampton, seeing an average price cut of 8.8%, or £11,220. In London, 278 properties have been reduced in price by motivated sellers during the past week, at a staggering average drop of £58,446. In Birmingham, the UK’s second largest city, 53 properties have been lowered in price by sellers, by an average of £7,806.

Nationally, 3293 properties have been reduced in price by sellers since 28th November at an average price drop of £22,061 (7%).

Daniel Lee, Globrix CEO, had this to say on the latest drops...

“As the weeks go by, more and more sellers are repricing their properties downwards on the basis that if they don’t then they simply won’t find a buyer. There is no doubt that sellers are becoming a lot more realistic around price — the penny really has dropped. Clearly the next month will be quiet but it will be interesting to see whether the combination of lower interest rates and lower house prices will finally stimulate the market in the New Year.”