Residential properties are taking nearly a month longer to sell than they did in 2016, hitting a three-year high, according to the September Zoopla UK Cities House Price Index.

The latest data revealed homes across UK cities now take over 12 weeks to sell – compared to eight weeks in 2016 – with vendors accepting offers that are an average of 3.8% or £9,800 lower than the initial asking price.

Zoopla also said that residential properties in London are taking an average of 14.5 weeks to sell – with sales agreed at an average of 5.7% below the asking price, up from just 1.8% in 2016.

Zoopla research and insight director, Richard Donnell, said: “There is a continued polarisation in housing market conditions across the country set by underlying market fundamentals, albeit Brexit uncertainty has been a compounding factor for lower market activity in some areas.

“A General Election seems to be a growing possibility ahead of any Brexit resolution; however, once the political outlook becomes clearer, we would expect a modest bounce-back in demand for a period between six and 12 months.

“Regardless, removing the uncertainty caused by Brexit will do little to address levels of housing affordability, which are limiting market activity across southern England.”

Zoopla said rising employment levels and attractive affordability has been sustaining demand in cities across the Midlands and north of England, resulting in above average house price growth. Seventy-five per cent of UK cities in these regions are registering an average time to sell of between 8.4 and 9.5 weeks – with sellers accepting the smallest discounts to asking prices of 2 to 3%.

By contrast, housing market conditions remained weakest across London, Oxford and Aberdeen. The average time to sell in these cities currently sits at over 14 weeks, and the discount required to achieve a sale is just below 5% - double the level of discount to asking prices in cities with the strongest market conditions.

“Market conditions are set to remain weak in southern cities until pricing levels adjust to what buyers are willing, or can afford to pay,” Donnell continued. “London is three years into a re-pricing process, and we expect sales volumes to slowly improve over 2020, while house price growth remains subdued.

“There are large parts of the country where housing affordability remains attractive, fuelled by continued economic growth that supports demand for homes, resulting in reasonable sales periods and only modest gaps between sales and asking prices.”

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