Remortgage lending has remained in demand the last few months due to the competitive environment between lenders.  To bring in homeowners lenders have offered cheap remortgage deals and some have offered fixed rates very close to trackers.  Add in the incentives lenders offered with remortgages such as free legal work or valuations and homeowners couldn’t stay away.  Landlords too have been remortgaging in high numbers as they have sought funding to add more properties to their portfolios.

House buyers have remained scarce in the housing market.  So of course it is not surprising that home purchase mortgages for first time buyers have remained low.

The lack of buyers has caused those trying to sell their home to lower their asking prices.  To get a sale then it is taking an aggressive strategy to get a buyer interested.  It is definitely a buyer’s market but the lending hurdles are hard to get over and few can purchase.  Therefore it makes sense to lower the asking price to get a deal when there are so few households able to buy.

According to a property listing Web site data revealed that over 40 per cent of all properties currently on the market have been reduced at least one time.  The average discount sellers have taken off their original asking price has reached a new record high at £19,500.  Experts advise sellers to be realistic about their asking price by taking the condition of the current housing market into consideration.

Nicholas Leeming, of the property listing site Zoopla.co.uk that released the data on reduced asking prices, said, “With the current economic uncertainty and difficulty buyers face in finding funding, it is no wonder that sellers are having to reduce prices in order to encourage sales.

“And with the latest economic forecasts for 2012 looking decidedly gloomy, sellers may have to reduce their expectations further if they are serious about making a move.”