Rightmove reports that sellers rushing to beat the Home Information Packs (HIPs) deadline ignored rising stock levels, yet pushed up average national asking prices to a new record high of £239,317. The average stock per estate agency branch has jumped by 10%, the largest rise for 3 years, as HIPs 'false deadline' drives sellers onto the market.
Prices rose by 0.8% during the last month, despite the large number of properties placed on the market for the second month in a row. A proportion of these listings will have been motivated to come to the market by a desire to save money on the costs of a HIP rather than pricing competitively to secure a buyer and a speedy move. However, London has fallen behind the national average as over half of London boroughs show a fall in prices.
Miles Shipside, Commercial Director of Rightmove comments: "The rush to beat the
impending HIPs deadline appears to have attracted some poorly motivated sellers to the market. They are chancing their arm at some fairly bullish prices considering there is now a lot of property up for sale. Their main motivation will have been to save some money avoiding a HIP, rather than being realistic on price because they had seen a property they desperately wanted to buy. More property available is good news for buyers, as sellers that need to sell urgently will have to drop their price."
