Thanks for joining us. Home sellers are being forced to slash their asking prices by 10pc or more as the market stagnates in the wake of surging interest rates.
A fifth of sellers are cutting prices by a tenth or greater, according to the property website Zoopla.
In London and the South East, the proportion of sellers accepting a discount on this scale rises to almost one in four.
The housing market has struggled in the wake of the cost of living crisis, which has forced the Bank of England to increase interest rates to a 16-year high. Mortgage costs have surged as a result.
However, Zoopla did find some reasons for optimism. Buyer demand has risen 12pc with the biggest increase in London, of 21pc.
Agreed sales have also increased across the country, up 13pc compared to the same time last year with sales rising in all regions.
This indicates buyers and sellers are more aligned on pricing, according to Zoopla.
Richard Donnell, executive director at Zoopla, said: “This improvement in activity will support sales volumes which, at one million, reached an eleven year low in 2023.”
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What happened overnight
Chinese equities led a rally in Asian stocks to start the week, after regulators took new steps over the weekend to support the market.
Oil climbed after a step-up in Middle East violence, as a missile attack by Yemen’s Houthi group caused a fire on a fuel tanker in the Red Sea, while three US troops were killed after a drone attack in Jordan.
The dollar and US Treasury yields hovered in the middle of recent ranges ahead of a highly anticipated Federal Reserve policy meeting later in the week.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng jumped 1.4pc, and a sub-index of mainland property shares surged 3.6pc after China’s securities regulator said on Sunday that it will fully suspend the lending of restricted shares.
Regional stocks had already started the day on a firm footing, but extended gains after the Hong Kong open, with South Korea’s Kospi advancing 1.2pc, while Australia’s stock benchmark added 0.4pc.
Tokyo stocks closed higher as investors cheered the strength of US shares after the Dow reached a fresh high.
The benchmark Nikkei 225 index rose 0.8pc, or 275.87 points, to 36,026.94, while the broader Topix index added 1.3pc, or 31.83 points, to 2,529.48.