Even as the housing market’s recovery stutters and as a general election looms, sellers are still asking for record high prices for their homes.
The average asking price of a new home in the UK listed on Rightmove, the property search website, has held firm over the past month at £375,110, only £21 below the record set in May.
That is despite the impact of stubbornly high mortgage rates that Rightmove acknowledges “continue to stretch affordability”.
In the latest survey from the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors, published last week, estate agents blamed the recent increase in mortgage rates for a fall in inquiries from new buyers, fewer sales going through and prices retreating.
Developers, including Crest Nicholson, have recorded a “softening” of the