Data: Spike in house price cuts and abandoned sales pre-Budget

Home sellers are slashing their asking prices as the property market continues to falter ahead of the Autumn Budget. In the year to date, it revealed there have been 918,585 price reductions, a 16 per cent jump from 791,820 in 2024, according to property data firm TwentyCi, and 23 per cent more than the 747,873 recorded in 2023. Compared to 2021 and 2022, when the property market was booming, the number of asking price cuts has more than doubled.

There has also been a spike in the number of sales collapsing altogether. So far in 2025, some 240,075 property sales have been abandoned according to TwentyCi’s data. That’s 20,509 more than at the same point in 2024, a more than 9 per cent increase, and and 34,884 (17 per cent) more than in 2023. ‘There’s no hiding from it – this is a really tough time to be selling a home,’ says Phil Spencer, TV property expert and founder of the property advice website Move iQ.

‘In many parts of the country, there are more homes for sale than buyers, and unless and until that changes, prices will stay under pressure.’ ‘For now buyers often find themselves holding all the cards, and can thus afford to take their time, be picky and negotiate hard on price,’ adds Spencer. ‘But most frustrating of all from a seller’s perspective is the growing number of buyers getting cold feet or walking away.’

Fears about upcoming tax rises in the Budget, scheduled for 26 November, are being partly blamed for the deteriorating situation, as well as broader concerns among buyers about the health of the economy. Property tax changes that could appear in the Budget include replacing stamp duty with a new annual property tax on homes worth more than £500,000; a capital gains ‘mansion tax’ which kicks in when homes worth £1.5million or more are sold; and an additional tax raid on landlords. In the latest survey from the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (Rics), estate agents and surveyors said sellers were being forced to slash asking prices in order to attract buyers.

Timothy Shaw of estate agent Vincent Shaw Residential in Cambridge says: ‘Currently, the market is in a state of semi-paralysis as buyers are gripped by Budget fears.’ James Watts, a Rics member at Robert Watts estate agents in West Yorkshire, says that sales numbers at his firm were down and were the lowest they had seen so far in 2025. ‘I think this re-iterates that asking prices have to be realistic to achieve sales in this rather uncertain marketplace,’ Watts says. In some parts of the country the situation looks particularly bleak for home sellers. In inner London, for example, price reductions are up 69 per cent compared to the same period of time in 2019.

The 86,126 asking price reductions recorded so far this year is up 28.5 per cent on the same period last year and up 36 per cent on 2023, when average average two-year fixed mortgage rates reached a high of 6.86 per cent, according to Moneyfacts. Jo Eccles, founder and managing director of prime central London buying agency, Eccord, says that an astonishing 80 per cent of homes they are buying for their clients are being sold for less than the seller paid. ‘The market is certainly muted,’ says Eccles. ‘We’re working with clients buying for new jobs and school places, and several divorcees – life goes on, but purchases are largely needs-based.

‘In London, 80 per cent of the properties we’re buying for clients are being sold at a loss – and more than half have undergone price reductions.’ Eccles adds that buyers are not afraid to push hard for lower prices. ‘There is more bad behaviour in the market generally, such as buyers trying to chip the price at the last minute if they think they can get away with it,’ she says.

More property sales are falling apart, too. All parts of the UK have seen an uptick in sales collapsing compared to last year, except for Northern Ireland . In the North West, collapsed sales have risen 15.2 per cent from 27,527 in 2024 to 31,710 in 2025. In the East of England, fall-throughs have surged 11.8 per cent from 24,572 in 2024 to 27,477 this year. The higher rate of collapsed sales comes even though the total number of sales is also falling. The number of sales between April and August is forecast to hit 440,090 this year, according to His Majesty’s Revenue & Customs estimates, down from 464,020 the previous year.

Rob Swiney, a Rics member working for Jackson Stops estate agents in Suffolk admits in the latest Rics survey: ‘The market is hard going – keeping sales together is the hardest part at the moment.’ Phil Spencer advises sellers think less about the money being offered and more about the buyer making the offer. ‘As a seller, your home is unique and special to you, but the harsh truth is that not all buyers will see it that way,’ he says. ‘If they are spoilt for choice, your home might just be one of several they like in the area.

‘Even after you’ve accepted their offer, some buyers might get cold feet or have their head turned by somewhere else down the road. ‘That’s why if you’re lucky enough to have more than one offer, be strategic about which one you pick. ‘Sometimes the ‘best’ buyer might not be the one offering the most money, but the one who is less likely to change their mind or hit a snag with the sale of their own home.’

Buying agent Jo Eccles is hoping for a ‘sensible Autumn Budget ‘ with ‘nothing that spooks the markets’ or sends interest rates back up again. She says: ‘If an annual property tax is introduced to replace stamp duty, that would really help get things moving and bring back the ‘here and now’ purchase, allowing people to move up the ladder when it suits them. ‘But provisions would need to be made for recent purchases, so buyers don’t end up paying twice.’ There are those who also maintain a more positive view of the market. Buying agent Henry Pryor points out that while house prices have fallen slightly, according to Halifax figures, they are still up 1.3 per cent on this time last year.

He also cites the most recent estimates for the number of residential transactions. In August 2025, there were 103,610 sales, only 1 per cent below August 2024 and 2 per cent higher than the previous month, according to His Majesty’s Revenue & Customs – although this was largely before Budget speculation started to mount. ‘Sure, if you want to sell your home in Chelsea then it’s worth as much as 20 per cent less than it was a couple of years ago,’ says Pryor. ‘Also, if you own a leasehold flat in a building with unresolved cladding issues then there are serious challenges, which won’t be sorted out in the Budget. But he believes talk of the housing market being ‘dead’ is overblown. ‘I hear that lots of people are waiting for the Budget,’ he says. ‘But upon investigation, this is usually estate agents trying to explain why their original optimism turned out to be wrong, and why they think you now need to reduce your home’s price.’