As the gap between asking and selling prices widens, the housing market is increasingly becoming favourable towards buyers, property site Zoopla has said.
Homes sold during the first half of November typically went for 5.5% less than the asking price, equating to an average £18,000 discount, according to Zoopla.
This marked the widest gap between asking and selling prices in five years, the site added, and was up on an average of 3.4% over the first half of the year.
“These are the best conditions for homebuyers for some years,” Zoopla chief executive Richard Donnell commented.
There are more homes to choose from as demand falters, he explained, with sellers becoming increasingly prepared to negotiate to push sales through.
“There is a growing acceptance that what a home might have been worth a year ago is now largely academic given current market conditions,” Donnell added.
An increase in base interest to 5.25% over the past year has prompted a rapid rise in mortgage rates, which - despite recent falls - still typically sit close to 5%, according to Moneyfacts.
“[These] higher mortgage rates are pushing potential properties out of reach,” Hargreaves Lansdown analyst Susannah Streeter said.
“It means sellers are having to pull out all the stops to shift their homes - including cutting the price.”