I promise that I had no idea about this story yesterday, when I wrote my previous post about why the recent increases in house prices were based on very low volume and would not last very long at all. As if by magic, today we see a report from leading property website, Rightmove, which claims that average asking prices dropped by 2.2% between July and August.
Obviously, you have to take this stuff with a pinch of salt since it’s only based on the asking prices of properties advertised on the website, but it’s still an interesting indicator – if things were really improving, seller confidence and asking prices would be climbing.
The bottom line is that unemployment is high and mortgage lending remains restricted, this situation is not going to drive property prices up or even support them at their current level. There’s still a long way down to go.