Serious sellers have been slashing asking prices in record numbers as the property market falters ahead of the Budget.

That’s according to Camilla Dell of Black Brick, a buying agency and property consultancy focused mostly on high end homes primarily in London and the south east.

Housing data firm TwentiCi reports that in Inner London, more than 86,000

homes have had prices cut so far this year, compared to 67,000 last year, a jump of 25%.

Dell says that for buyers this presents an opportunity while for vendors, the long term absence of growth in the high end London market means many are selling for a loss – there’s been little meaningful capital appreciation since 2014.

She says: “If they are serious about selling, they recognise that the market is down since the peak and therefore they are not going to get their costs back.”

She warns that even on Budget Day the market torpor may not end. “It will cause people to take a pause, work out what it means for them, and then decide whether to proceed, withdraw, or renegotiate.”