The average price of a home coming up for sale in Britain’s richest borough has dropped by almost £۱۰۰,۰۰۰ in a month as fierce competition among sellers in many areas prompts some to slash their price expectations, data shows.
The property website Rightmove said that for Britain as a whole, average newly listed asking prices for homes had fallen by ۲% over the past month, the largest August price drop in eight years.
Separate data shows that buy-to-let investors are cashing in on the cooling housing market by forcing more sellers to accept lowball offers as some struggle to drum up interest in their properties.
In recent days, a series of surveys have pointed to a weak or cooling market. On Thursday, the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (Rics) said the UK housing market “remained subdued” in July.
According to the lender Lloyds, UK house prices were broadly stagnant last month as prospective buyers were squeezed by higher mortgage rates, economic pressure caused by conflict in the Middle East, and stretched affordability. The rival lender Nationwide said prices rose by only ۰.۱% last month.
Rightmove said the national average figure – which equates to a £۷,۳۶۰ reduction in the average newly listed asking price – masked an increasingly divided regional picture. It said London had seen the biggest drop over the past month, of ۴.۴%, equating to almost £۳۰,۰۰۰ lopped off a new asking price.
The site’s data suggests that in some London boroughs, sellers are resorting to drastic action to try to tempt affordability-stretched buyers and get their sale over the line amid the distractions of summer holidays and heatwaves.
Rightmove put the current average new asking price of a home in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea at £۱,۵۵۲,۹۷۰. A month ago, the figure was £۱,۶۴۸,۱۴۸, a difference of just over £۹۵,۰۰۰.
The property website said the number of available homes for sale in London was the highest it had been for ۱۶ years, “leading to fierce competition among sellers to tempt buyers in the costliest part of Great Britain”.
Colleen Babcock, a property expert at Rightmove, said: “This month’s larger-than-usual August price drop is a sign that many sellers are recognising the reality of the market and pricing much more competitively from day one.”
Separate data issued by the estate agent Hamptons illustrates how investor buyers can find themselves in a stronger position when the housing market is weaker and some sellers are struggling to generate interest.
Hamptons said these landlord purchasers were capitalising on the conditions to “drive a hard bargain” and push for steep price reductions, and it added that sellers were increasingly willing to accept these lower offers.
after newsletter promotion
In July, according to Hamptons, landlords accounted for ۱۴.۱% of all home purchases in Great Britain, up from the ۱۲.۴% year-to-date average. At the same time, they became more ambitious with their offers: the average landlord buyer paid just ۸۸.۷% of the initial asking price in July.
In fact, more than half (۵۶%) of offers from investor buyers during July were at least ۱۰% below the seller’s initial asking price, the highest figure since April ۲۰۲۰, a few weeks into the first Covid lockdown.
Increasingly, sellers are not putting up a fight when confronted with a lowball offer. In July, ۲۷% of the ۱۰% or more below asking price offers from investors were accepted, up from ۱۸% in July ۲۰۲۵. But for leasehold properties, the July figure was even higher at ۴۱%, said Hamptons, which based its analysis on data from Britain’s biggest estate agency group, Connells.
Some flats in particular are struggling to find buyers, even when the owners have cut the price, with many blaming the discredited leasehold system for this lack of appetite. Earlier this month, the Guardian featured the stories of people who had been trying without success to sell a flat.
Analysis by the property website Zoopla found that across most of England, the majority of leasehold flats listed for sale in ۲۰۲۵ had not sold within six months.
