Activity in the housing market over the past six months has not followed the normal pattern, surprisingly July and August have been busy months with sales being agreed at realistic prices.
The market is very price sensitive, a significant problem at the moment is that there is a considerable amount of property currently available at the wrong price. Vendors need to be realistic with their asking price and become more in tune with the market. Prices are not increasing at the moment, if a property has been advertised for six weeks and there have been no offers, this would indicate that the price is too high for the particular property. The longer the house sits aroung the less likley it is to achieve the guide price.
Interestingly, online property search sites report that recently the actual average price paid for a property is 14% less than the actual asking price, again suggesting that property marketed in general is overpriced. I personally am aware of vendors accepting a reduction off the asking price to the tune of up to 23%, which is a significant amount of money when we are talking about homes at the upper end of the market.

Price aside, there are many interesting properties that seem to be coming to the Autumn market, cash buyers, as always, will still have the edge over other possible purchasers, being proceedable and more likely to reach exchange and completion as they are not held by a chain.

In summary, Vendors need to be realistic on price inorder to sell and buyers need to do their research to determine whether a property is correctly priced.