Buy to let investors keen to bag a bargain will be interested to know that over a third of homes now on sale have had their asking price reduced.

Rightmove says 36.3 per cent of properties currently for sale have had a price reduction, with an average reduction equating to £22,700 nationally or 6.2 per cent.

In a month of subdued housing market activity, the average asking price of newly marketed properties has actually increased a little to £366,281 – that’s up 0.4 per cent. 

This is smaller than the average September rise of 0.6 per cent recorded in the same period over the past 10 years.

And of course this comes before the positive housing market news delivered by the Bank of England last week when it held base rate at 5.25 per cent. Such price reductions may reduce in number during the autumn.

The portal says that while some sellers are clearly being too optimistic on their pricing, it does appear that others are listening to their agents’ advice to price correctly from the outset. 

“As expected, the annual rate of change has continued its downwards trajectory, which means that prices are still on track to meet our prediction of a 2.0 per cent fall over the year as a whole” explains Rightmove.

“It’s been a slower than usual August, so all eyes will be on market activity over the next few weeks, which will set the trend for the rest of the year” explains Tim Bannister of Rightmove.

“The combination of 14 consecutive Bank of England interest rate rises and many buyers and sellers still catching up on lost pandemic holidays has contributed to a bigger than expected summer lull, though we still anticipate an autumn bounce. 

“Market conditions still vary considerably in different locations, and so a local estate agent will be best placed to advise sellers to give them the best chance of finding a buyer this autumn.” 

He says August was quieter than usual for new sellers, with the number of new properties coming up for sale being six per cent lower than the 10 year average. 

Buyer enquiries remained stable, down just one per cent on 2019, but the economic conditions, holiday distractions and reduction in fresh stock contributed to the number of sales agreed falling further, going from being 15 per cent down on 2019 in July, to being 18 per cent down in August.