Holiday season is taking its toll on asking prices for homes for sale.  Buyer interest has dropped during the holiday season, which is causing a subsequent drop in offer amounts.

The website Rightmove has reported, the average asking price of a home during the month of July was 232,241 pounds.  This figure is compared with 236,332 pounds a month earlier in June.  With so many people on holiday, the oversupply has resulted in asking prices of homes.

Also, Rightmove reported that new listings have outpaced mortgage approvals by a ration of 5 to 2.  In other words, there are 2 and a half times more new listings of homes than mortgage approvals.

The director of Rightmove, Miles Shipside, commented on what will cause a turnaround in prices, saying: “There needs to be a spur to cause prices to rise.”

He also remarked on detailed activity which needs to occur for a spur to take place saying: “As mortgages will not become available to the masses and last year’s stock shortages show no sign of reappearing, we cannot see it happening during the remainder of 2010.”

The biggest drop in asking prices at 4.4 per cent, was in the West Midlands.  London followed with a 4.1 per cent decrease , and prices surged in the North of England by 2.6 per cent and 1.5 per cent in the East Midlands, Rightmove reported.

The results of the survey by Rightmove come after the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors said prices started falling in July.  Although the Council of Mortgage Lenders reported lending had loosened up enough to see an increase in June.  These occurrences further setting an example of how unstable the housing sector continues to be.