Average property selling time now down to eight weeks

Those looking to sell their property don't have to wait before finding a buyer, as the average selling time is now down to eight weeks. During the same period last year, properties took an average of ten weeks to sell, according to new data from Hometrack.
Sellers are also achieving more of their asking price than they were a year ago too. In January 2013, homeowners expected to knock off around seven per cent of their asking price in order to seal a deal with buyers. Now, sellers only have to reduce their asking price by five per cent on average, reports thisismoney.co.uk.
The analyst also stated that house prices rose by 4.8 per cent last year compared to the previous year and prices are expected to rise thanks to a lack of available homes on the market.      
So far this year, prices have already crept up 0.3 per cent, which is unusual for January as it is often a rather quiet time of year in terms of property sales. However, this could be because supply was so low as the number of homes on the market fell by 6.6 per cent, reports express.co.uk.
Hometrack director, Richard Donnell, believes this is a worrying trend, as for the past five months the supply of homes has dropped by 17 per cent.
"The trend over 2013 was supply failing to keep pace with demand," he explained. "If sellers remain slow to enter the market, in expectation of further gains, the pressure on prices will build rapidly once again."