Properties 'on market for longer'

Stagnating sales have forced some owners to become landlords

Most properties for sale in the UK have now been on the market for more than 90 days without finding a buyer, according to property website Globrix.

Its research shows that this year's fall in prices has gone hand-in-hand with stagnating sales.

The proportion of properties unsold after 90 days has risen from 25% at the start of the year to 53% in August.

The UK's largest mortgage lender, the Halifax, said that UK house prices had dropped by 11% in the past year.

'Gathering dust'

Globrix said the fear that prices had further to fall meant that sellers were finding it harder and harder to shift properties.

"With consumer confidence and property transactions at an all-time low, and competitive mortgage finance harder to secure, we are going to see more and more properties languishing on the market as buyers wait to see what happens next," said Daniel Lee of Globrix.

"Scotland is somehow bucking the trend [but] the vast majority of properties up for sale are simply gathering dust," he added.

PERCENTAGE OF PROPERTIES UNSOLD AFTER 90 DAYS UK - 53% England - 54% Scotland - 34% Wales - 64% Northern Ireland - 35% Source: Globrix - August 2008

The most stagnant property market in the UK is in Wales.

There, 64% of homes on the market have been for sale for 90 days or more, up from 28% at the start of the year.

The least stagnant market is in Scotland, with only 34% of homes for sale sitting unsold on solicitors' and estate agents' books for 90 days, compared to 19% at the start of the year.

This week the government announced a package of measures aimed at preventing the housing market grinding to a complete halt.

It also wants to head off some of the increase in property repossessions and subsequent evictions that are expected this year.

Duty change

The most eye-catching change was a temporary lifting of the starting point for the payment of stamp duty on house purchases, from �125,000 to �175,000.

Despite widespread scepticism that this would have much effect on the moribund state of property sales, the Halifax argued strongly that it was a positive move.

"The average first time buyer will pay no stamp duty over the next 12 months," said the Halifax's chief executive Martin Ellis.

"Increasing the lowest stamp duty threshold will benefit buyers in all regions, but will have a more pronounced impact outside the South East," he argued.

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