County-by-county: completion prices as a percentage of asking prices

The latest data from the Bank of England shows new mortgage approvals fell by 68 per cent in June to 38,000, the lowest level since the early 90s. The figures prove there are fewer buyers than ever in the market place.

Those buyers that remain are increasing undercutting asking prices, according to estate agents, in an attempt to grab a bargain. Lloyds TSB, which announced a 70 per cent fall in profits today, said it expects house prices to fall 15 per cent by the end of the year.

Times Money has put together a list using the latest figures from Hometrack, the property data provider, showing average completion prices as a percentage of original asking prices for each county in the UK in July.

Dorset 88.9%

Teesside 88.9%

Berkshire 89.3%

West Sussex 89.6%

London - East 89.7%

London - North 89.7%

Wiltshire 89.7%

London - West 89.9%

North Wales 89.9%

Gloucestershire 90.1%

London - South East 90.1%

Cambridgeshire 90.2%

Cornwall 90.2%

Hampshire 90.2%

London - North West 90.3%

Avon 90.4%

South Wales 90.4%

London - South West 90.5%

Mid Wales 90.5%

Birmingham 90.6%

Norfolk 90.6%

Northumberland 90.6%

South Lincolnshire 90.6%

Greater Manchester 90.7%

Buckinghamshire 90.8%

East Sussex 90.8%

Somerset 90.8%

Warwickshire 90.9%

National 90.9%

Bedfordshire 91%

Merseyside 91%

Nottinghamshire 91%

Shropshire 91%

Devon 91.1%

Lancashire 91.1%

Derbyshire 91.2%

Hertfordshire 91.2%

Northamptonshire 91.2%

Staffordshire 91.2%

Tyne and Wear 91.2%

Essex 91.3%

Leicestershire 91.4%

Suffolk 91.4%

Cheshire 91.5%

Hereford and Worcester 91.5%

South Yorkshire 91.5%

North Yorkshire 91.6%

County Durham 91.8%

North Lincolnshire 91.8%

Oxfordshire 91.9%

Central London & City 92.1%

Kent 92.1%

West Midlands 92.2%

Surrey 92.5%

West Yorkshire 92.7%

Cumbria 94%

East Riding of Yorkshire 94.7%

Posted by James Charles

More from Money Central:

The latest house price forecasts, region by region

The 10 worst property investments ever

25 tips to sell your property in a downturn

50 tips to beat a recession

The 10 home improvements that add the most vlaue

Ten ways to save without even noticing

Are house prices heading for a 1990s style crash?

50 great things you can get free

The 10 craziest parking tickets ever

The 10 most extravagant weddings ever

50 reasons not to buy an iPhone

The thrifty fifty - 50 easy ways to save cash

Ten easy ways to drive down petrol costs

Ten tips to beat the 40% energy price hike

Comments

[jonathan]

What about the Isle of Wight which has been a county for many years?

[Stuart]

To all those anti-Scottish.

I suggest you read up on how the Scots have pioneered the modern world we live in today, under all disciplines.

It's because of us that you live the life you do, with advancements in technology, engineering, medicine..the list goes on and on!

Oh and we invented the ideology of democracy. I suggest you take yourself into a book shop and read about it.

We're hardly 'bitterSours' either. Not everyone wants independence up here, the polls show this - again educate yourself.

[EngAndProud]

Here, here to John from Bolton. The southerners may be soft but at least they're English. The bitterSours from Scotland are no kin of mine.

[John, Bolton]

Terry's comment above does not go for most of the North of England. We may not like Southerners but we tend to like Haggis-munchers even less. Our ancestors spent much of their time thrashing them.

[Terry, Burnley]

I don't understand all this vitriol between Scots and English. I am a northerner born and bred who regularly visits both Scotland and the south of England. There is no doubt whatsoever that we northerners have much more in common with the Scots than we do with those in the south. If there has to be a dividing line it shouldn't be the border with Scotland but a line drawn somewhere south of Birmingham. It may be an old cliche but the old saying, "There's nothing north of Watford" is still indicative of the attitude from many people in the south, particularly Londoners.

[Richard Pindar]

Haha the Scot says "don't annoy us or we'll wreck your economy". You been the economy that subsidies and mantains your country??

[D Olive]

I am discussed at the Times publishing racist comments by Agincourt. The Times should behave in a responsible manner and confine such comments to the waste bin. Peter Normans comment about the lack of understanding displayed by the Times reporter in failing to understand that Scotland is part of the UK is valid and should be rectified as a matter of urgency.

[Agincourt]

@Peter Norman: Do be quiet. No one in their right mind gives a damn about Wales, Scotland or Northern Ireland. Your name doesn't appear to be Celtic, so you, especially, have no excuse for whining...

[Peter Norman]

THE UK CONSISTS OF ENGLAND,NORTHERN IRELAND, SCOTLAND AND WALES SO WHERE ARE THE COUNTY BY COUNTY COMPLETION VALUES FOR SCOTLAND AND NORTHERN IRELAND? ALSO WHERE ARE THE INDIVIDUAL COUNTIES OF WALES?

[Andrew Milner]

Now where did I put my carpet bag? Cash suit you?

[schmendric]

Sorry to see my English cousins are experiencing something of the same problems as us Yanks. It's just clearance time and the lenders will tighten up their mortgage standards.
Given time, the housing/mortgage situation will stabilize -- as it always has. Those who bit off much more than they can chew will lose; the more prudent will digest and survive.

[Goober!]

Guys, check out propertysnake.co.uk. It reveals true percentage drops from original to current asking price. It has opened my eyes even further to another 10%-20% drop over the next 12 months!

[David Quine]

AVON does not exist as a county!
It is the name of a river and coupled with Somerset for a Fire Service.
All these figures are generalizations and only have meaning when detailed within specific price-bands

[Ester Dara]

Will The Times please note that Hereford and Worcester has not existed as a county for TEN YEARS !
Some properties in my area have been on the market since last summer, many asking prices are now being reduced by 20%or the property is taken off the market and placed back on a short time later at a lower asking price. Do these price reduction figures from Hometrack represent the reduction on the original asking price, or the reduced asking price where this has been lowered. If, as I suspect, the figures represent the later, the true figure for completion price as a percentage of origianal asking price is probably in the region of 70%.

[James White]

considering it takes three months after completion for the results to be publicly available, show us these figures again in six months for deals that are being agreed now.. 75% anyone?

[Will Hicks]

I'm presuming these ratios DON'T take account of the fact the offered property has already been dropped 20% and moved a number of estate agents before some mug finally takes the still overpriced bait ?

[Jim McLaughlin]

Boy, what vitriol from so many! Does this reflect tne mood of most British people, or just those that tend to comment on news articles? Sorry folks, but an awful lot of you sound terminally bitter.

[Ian Tinn]

For these figures to be useful, they really should have been compared to the equivalent figures a year earlier (i.e. before the credit crunch).

[Gareth]

Northern Ireland is part of the UK and has six counties (Antrim, Armagh, Down, Fermanagh, Tyrone and Londonderry, count them). Each of these is accordingly a county in the UK. Figures (or a correction?) please!

[M Walters]

Annie, most "resting" actors are unemployed scum - i.e. their careers are dead. Dead like the housing market...

[Annie]

As a seller in this current market I found this information quite helpful to pitch my asking price accordingly.

And yes, people still do have urgent reasons to move/sell, so the market is not totally dead - just 'resting' like an out of work actor.

[Adam]

This would be interesting if we knew what the equivalent figures were last year when the market was going up. Perhaps the figures were the same? This is meaningless without other data to put it in perspective.

[Mr Clever]

The county of Avon existed from 1974 to 1996. Doh!

[Dave]

Well if the report's for "every county in the UK" and Scotland "doesn't have counties anymore" then Scotland won't be in the list. Also - Scotland's already ruined the UK economy with all the money paid out in benefit, to Scots Assembly etc.

[itchypixel]

"off on one again". It is quite simple. If it states that the list is for "each county in the UK" then it should include England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. If is doesn´t then don´t say that it does. No separatist agenda, no chips on sholders. 300 years since act of union. One would have thought that The Times could get it right by now.

[Edward Plantagenet]

Quite right, Jolly Fooly. I'm sick to death of these whinging Celts. I imagine the Welsh will kick off soon - the handful with internet access and basic English comprehension, that is...

[James]

I don't understand the statistic, what does the percentage represent? - The amount of homes sold for the actual asking price? (near enough all of them) - what's the big deal?

[Munin]

Don't annoy us or we'll ruin your economy. Oh, hang on ...

I should also have mentioned that Northern Ireland is in the UK as well.

[Evelina]

I am not even Scottish nor British for that matter, but it does irritate me that such a well regarded newspaper would more often than not refer to England as the UK. Is it the United Kingdom of English counties then or what?

[steve]

I was wondering,now with all these figures,of property prices dropping,I personaly go by land registry data,any bank or lending institution,must have to factor all this data into the valuation,in case they have to reposess and sell on, so vendors will have to drop as the banks ect will only lend to the deposit and house value

[Jolly Fooly]

God help us, the Scots are off on one again. Why are you bothered whether Scotland is on the list, I thought you lot hated the UK? Come to that why are you reading the times online and not the scotsman?

[Gordon Broon]

there is always so much anger posted on articles about house prices on this site. It is a house price not life and death. some perspective please...

[N]

Could the times please note that Avon has not existed as a county for quite some time.

[Np]

"grab a bargain" Do me a favour, prices are adjusting back to normal. You don't think that these hyperinflated prices were for real?
Why are people buying houses at the moment??? They're buying a depreciating asset.

[Daniel]

This article, economists, estate agents, greedy sellers, lenders, politicians, statiticians, are all utterly full of s***. Houses have risen three fold. Why havent the reductions reflected that fact that there are no longer 10x salary mortgates available? The CML should be in prison. If the government bail them out yet again, at my, the tax payers expense, thus ensuring that I will never be able to afford a shed in this godforsaken country, open rebellion should ensue.

[Munin]

"Times Money has put together a list ... showing average completion prices as a percentage of original asking prices for each county in the UK"

I don't suppose you have similar figures for Scotland?

ps Scotland is in the UK too, though it doesn't have counties any more. Wales has 13 counties, though they aren't the ones you listed. You got the English ceremonial counties just about right.

[paul smith]

there's different figures coming out every day..last week the papers were saying the east midlands was having the worst drop in the country, according to this they are experiencing below the average drop...