The number of vendors reducing their asking prices has fallen sharply in the last two years ago as property market confidence grows.
Just 31% of properties on the market have reduced their asking price, down from 40% since November 2011, according to new figures from Zoopla.
And the figure could fall further, thanks to government stimulus such as Help to Buy and the traditional seasonal rush in New Year demand.
London has the lowest proportion of price-reduced properties on market at 20%, but it is a different picture in Yorkshire. Some 43% of properties for sale in Preston have seen price reductions, followed by Rotherham, Wakefield, Barnsley and Doncaster.
Liverpool has the biggest average price discounts, with an average current asking price reduction of 8.6%, or £14,149. The smallest discounts are being offered in Plymouth and Edinburgh, where sellers who have dropped prices have done so by just 5.5% on average.
Nationally, the average reduction has fallen to 6.4% of the original price, against 7.4% two years ago.
Lawrence Hall of Zoopla said: “Confidence in the property market is at its highest level since the start of the economic downturn and this is reinforced with fewer sellers feeling the pressure to lower their expectations and drop prices.
“With the typical New Year rush of buyer demand likely to be made even more acute by the boost of the second phase of the government’s Help to Buy scheme, sellers expectations could rise further in the coming months.
"The only thing that could upset the trend is if there is a significant rise in level of stock coming to the market.”
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