The North West is proving to be England’s most resilient housing market, with sellers there less likely to have to cut their asking prices than anywhere else in the country.
New research from Lyons Bowe Solicitors found that just 32.4% of homes currently for sale in the North West have undergone a price reduction, compared with 40.6% nationally.
Merseyside leads the way, with only 27.2% of properties having been reduced, meaning almost three quarters of sellers have so far been able to stick to their original asking price.
Greater Manchester is not far behind, with 33.1% of homes currently for sale having undergone a reduction.
The analysis, which is based on a snapshot of Zoopla listings on August 3, looked at almost 394,000 properties available for sale in England, excluding those already under offer or sold subject to contract.
Northern markets dominate
The North West is part of a wider northern trend, with sellers in several areas proving less likely to have to reduce their asking prices.
Northumberland matched Greater Manchester, with 33.1% of listings having been reduced, followed by Rutland at 33.6% and East Riding of Yorkshire at 34.3%.
On a regional level, the North East had the second-lowest proportion of reduced properties at 36.8%, followed by Yorkshire and the Humber at 37.8%.
Paul Lyons, Managing Director at Lyons Bowe Solicitors, says: “One of the most interesting things about the housing market at the moment is just how differently individual parts of the country are performing.
“Merseyside is a particularly striking example. With more than seven in 10 homes currently listed for sale yet to undergo a price reduction, sellers in the county are proving considerably more resilient than the national picture would suggest.
“The wider performance of the North West is also encouraging, with the region recording the lowest proportion of price-reduced listings in England.”
Greater pressure in southern markets
There is a noticeably different picture in southern England, where sellers are far more likely to have had to reduce their original asking price.
The South East recorded the highest proportion of reduced listings at 43.4%, followed by London at 42% and the East of England at 41.9%.
The differences are even greater at county level. Almost half of homes currently listed in Norfolk have undergone a reduction, at 48.2%. The Isle of Wight, East Sussex and Dorset recorded reductions for 46.7%, 46.4% and 45.5% of properties respectively.
Lyons says: “Of course, a price reduction isn’t in itself a measure of whether a market is strong or weak. Sellers may reduce their asking price for all sorts of reasons, and the figures don’t tell us how quickly properties are selling. What they do show is where sellers have so far been less likely to need to adjust their expectations.”
He adds that local picture is increasingly important and that although the national housing market can tell you a great deal, “It can’t necessarily tell an individual seller what is happening on their street.”
