The average asking price of newly listed property dipped by 2.1% or £7,862 this month to £359,137, the latest Rightmove figures reveal.

The house price index data found that this is a bigger dip in new asking prices than is usual at this time of year.

At the end of 2022, average asking prices are 5.6% higher than at this time a year ago, only slightly below the 6.3% growth recorded in 2021.

Rightmove suggests that economic headwinds including rapidly rising mortgage costs mean that some would-be buyers may have paused their plans for the foreseeable future.

However, over the past two weeks, the number of people enquiring to estate agents is up 4% compared to the same period in 2019.

There are also signs that some discretionary buyers who are still able to move, are using the space between now and the New Year to weigh up their options.

The HPI also found that the number of views of homes for sale on Rightmove is up 11% compared to last year.

Rightmove says this indicates that there are many ready-to-go buyers, monitoring and waiting for a calmer market in 2023 after an uncertain last few months of the year.

The property portal predicts an overall drop of 2% in average asking prices next year as economic headwinds continue to soften activity and lead to a more normal market, though price falls will be tempered by few forced sales.

However, it suggests that affordability constraints will bite in some segments and sectors of the market much more than others which makes a national average price prediction for new-to-the-market properties more difficult than usual this year.

Rightmove highlights that this will lead to “a more pronounced hyper-local market”, where one side of a city, town or even street could fare better than another.

After many months of having to act extremely quickly, the data found that there will be less urgency in the market as buyers wait for the right home to become available for their needs, and some sellers will hold out hoping for a price that matches their expectations.

Rightmove suggests there could be a stand-off in the early months of 2023 between some sellers who are in no rush to drop their prices, and those affordability-strapped or hesitant buyers.

This will lead to homes taking longer to sell, and the potential return to the more normal time to find a buyer of around 60 days.

Rightmove director of property science Tim Bannister says: “Though we would always expect prices to drop in December, as motivated sellers try to capture the attention of a buyer before Christmas with a competitive price, this monthly dip is the largest we’ve seen for four years.”

“It‘s an understandable short-term reaction to the economic turmoil and unexpectedly rapid mortgage rate rises and reduction in availability of mortgage products that we saw in late September and October, before things began to settle down.”

“Despite this, we end the year with average asking price growth of 5.6%, which is only slightly lower than the 6.3% last year.”

“It’s understandable that some buyers are distracted, not only by the festive season, but also by the thought that they may get a better fixed-rate mortgage deal and a more stable outlook by waiting until the new year.”

“Our data suggests that there are many ready-to-go movers out there waiting for what they feel to be the right time to enter the market in 2023. We’d usually see a jump in home-mover activity in January, but it takes a while at the start of the year for any significant price changes to feed through, so we’ll be waiting for a potential bounce back in prices in February, which will be a very important leading indicator for the spring moving season.”