Pandemic property market boom “enthusiasm” is causing many sellers to overprice their homes by 20%, according to HBB Solutions.

Across the UK, sellers who lower their asking prices are cutting them from an average of £380,637 to £305,353 – a reduction of £75,284 – says the chain-repair property buyer, who looked at those homes currently on the market who have dropped their original asking price.

Sellers in the North East are being forced to apply the biggest reductions, typically coming down by 20.5%, followed by the West Midlands, by 20.4%, Yorkshire & Humber, by 20.2% and Wales, by 20.2%.

The North West, at 10%, is also home to some of the highest levels of homes that are repricing, having already entered the market at a higher asking price. 

South East and London are the regions where sellers are most frequently forced to cut their asking price with reductions that account for 24% and 14%, respectively, of all property asking price reductions across the UK.

The study adds that while London’s home sellers may be one of the most likely to reduce their asking price, they are only doing so by 19%, the most marginal reduction of all regions across the country.

HBB Solutions managing director Chris Hodgkinson says: “For quite some time now, we’ve seen report after report of how the housing market is booming and house prices are climbing to dizzying new heights. So it’s understandable that sellers entering the market may be doing so with a little too much enthusiasm when it comes to pricing their homes.

 “The consequence? They’re finding that even in a seller’s market, an overpriced home will always struggle to sell and the inevitable course of action required to secure a buyer is to lower their asking price expectations.

 “What we’re also almost certainly seeing is the first signs of a cooling market, as the economic pressure of rising inflation and the increasing costs associated with mortgage rates, in particular, start to dent home buyer confidence and the sums they are willing to pay.”

HBB says its data was sourced from consultants Property Data.