The 10 biggest property price cuts

A mortgage drought, a dearth of first-time buyers and the widely held belief that prices still have a long way to fall (with estimations varying between 25 per cent and 35 per cent) have left sellers desperate for a sale at almost any cost.

Many have been slashing prices as a result. Times Money spoke to 20 national and regional estate agents and asked for examples where asking prices have been dramatically cut in recent weeks. Here are the ten properties which have seen the biggest price drops.

1. Point Gribben, St Austell, South Cornwall

Was: £725,000  Now: £499,500    Price cut: 31.7 per cent

Point Gribben (above) has apparently only ever been occupied by “a lady and her maid” and a “childless couple”, although confusingly, the agent refers to it as a “gentleman’s residence”. Whoever is destined to live in the massive five-bedroomed house, stuffed-full with period features, will be pleased to hear that £225,500 has been cut from the asking price. It has stained-glass windows, a scattering of period fireplaces, deep sprocketed eaves and a generous amount of oak panelling and oak staircases. It is certainly not for buyers with minimalist aspirations. Estate agent: Lillicrap Chilcott

2. Clive House, Bromley, Kent

Was: £350,000  Now: £250,000    Price cut: 28 per cent

This “charming” ground-floor “maisonette” (from the plans it looks more like a flat with pretensions) has proved stubbornly hard to shift, forcing the sellers to swallow their pride and cut an eye-watering £100,000 from the asking price. For a bargain basement price of a quarter of a million, one lucky buyer will get three bedrooms, a garage, a conservatory and a decent sized reception room, pictured above. It is unclear whether the ornamental bust featuring two lovers embracing, or indeed the slightly over-zealous, Terminal 5-inspired fireguard below it are included in the asking price, but it could always be an opener for further negotiations. Estate agent: Kinleigh Folkard & Hayward

3. Heathlands, Surrey

Was: £1.95 million    Now: £1.45 million  Price cut: 26 per cent

Even the huge drive complete with that picture-perfect Georgian lamp post (imagine it covered in snow, at Christmas) has failed to attract a bid for the Heathlands, a massive five bedroom property just a stones-throw from Milford, near Goldalming, Surrey. After six months on the market, owners have been forced to slash the asking price by half a million pounds, more than triple the cost of the average home in the UK. The charitable reduction in price means you can now bag the lot, including an acre of grounds, the garages (three) and the frankly gorgeous portico porch, for a snip at £1.45 million. Estate agent: Hamptons

4. Lower Ley Lane, Minsterworth, Gloucestershire

Was: £995,000       Now: £760,000     Price cut: 24 per cent

If you’re in the market for a seriously old farm house, look no further. Parts of Lower Ley Lane date back to 1450 and it boasts an original stone spiral staircase. Alas, the sellers of this farm must be feeling cursed. When they put their Grade-II listed home on the market (along with the barns and paddocks that come with it) a year ago, the mortgage crisis erupted and interested parties struggled to get finance. Then, as the housing crisis spread, potential buyers were unable to sell their own homes. Add the severe flooding that hit large swathes of the country, included Gloucestershire, last year, and its not surprising that the sellers have agreed to drop its asking price by almost a quarter to £760,000. Estate agent: Hamptons

5. The Court, Guildford, Surrey

Was: £650,000      Now: £499,000      Price cut: 23 per cent

The sellers of this four bedroom “arts and crafts” town house in the centre of cosmopolitan Guildford have dropped their price by almost a quarter in the hope of finding a buyer for their home. The Grade II listed home, designed by Hugh Thackeray Turner in 1902, suffers from slightly odd proportions, with a galley kitchen only 2.3 feet wide, for example. Not one for the morbidly obese. Still, its handy for the airports, with Heathrow and Gatwick just a short drive down the motorway. Estate agent: Hamptons

6. The Cottage, Ryecroft Road, Streatham, London

Was: £699,995     Now: £550,000       Price cut: 21 per cent

First, the good points: it's Grade II listed, which means it's full of character. There’s a garage and three decent-sized bedrooms. It’s also in Streatham, definitely an area you could describe as “up-and-coming”, and the sellers have just knocked over a fifth of its asking price.

The bad points: it's Grade II listed, which means you can barely sneeze without asking the council for planning permission first. And that means your plans to turn the garage into an extra bedroom/study aren’t even worth entertaining. Plus what you term "up-and-coming", others might describe as "unsafe at night". Estate agent: Kinleigh Folkard & Hayward

7. Riverside Lawns, Lincoln, Lincolnshire

Was: £125,000    Now: £99,950     Price cut: 20 per cent

“Viewing is essential to fully appreciate the quality of accommodation on offer”, according to the details of this flat in the historic county town of Lincoln. However, buyers with a penchant for period features should look away now – uPVC, electric heaters and blue Formica kitchen are all present and correct in this oh-so conventional new build. The only surprise is a powder-pink paint job in the front room. The price has been cut by £25,000. For under £100,000 you get riverside views, a garage and two decent bedrooms and a patio with another electric heater. Estate agent: Winkworth

8. The Villa @ White Lodge Close, The Bishops Avenue, London

Was: £9.95 million  Now: £7.95 million    Price cut: 20 per cent

Even London’s wealthy elite are not immune from the effects of the property downturn. The sellers of The Villa have been forced to cut its asking price by £2 million in recent weeks, in a desperate bid to catch the eye of a Russian oligarch or Middle Eastern oil baron. This palatial property on the capital’s most exclusive residential road features seven bedrooms and a reception hallway bigger than my entire west London flat. If you can stump up the cash you could be living next to Lakshmi Mittal, Britain’s wealthiest man or the Saudi Royal family. Estate agent: Savills

9. St Michaels Road, Battersea, London

Was: £2 million      Now: £1.6 million     Price cut: 20 per cent

This family-friendly five-storey town house, a short buggy-ride from Battersea Park, hit the market last summer with a mind-boggling price tag of £2 million. Now it’s down to a slightly more reasonable £1.6 million. For that you get lots of trendy light switches and a small forest’s worth of oak flooring. Then there’s the four bedrooms, a grotesquely enormous stainless steel kitchen and breakfast room begging to be filled with pricey Siemen’s kitchen appliances, plus a family-sized 149 foot garden. A bargain of sorts. Estate agent: Hamptons

10. Whirlow Green, Whirlow, South Yorkshire

Was: £640,000      Now: £575,000    Price cut: 10 per cent

This “bespoke” (new build) family home, nestled between Sheffield and the Peak Distract has seen its asking price drop 10 per cent in the last couple of months. An audacious smattering of busy rugs, frilly window dressings and twee lamp fittings which would faze even the House Doctor (“home staging” has clearly not reached the Ecclesall Woods), could be distracting potential buyers, but this house does have an abundance of space with six bedrooms and even a double garage. Estate agent: Winkworth

By James Charles

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Comments

[Luke Skytread]

Fairly soon, either most of the high end properties in UK will be empty or habituated by Russian, Indian or Chinese.
The real people will be reduced the council flats and walk ups.
Well done by the C of E and Gordon Brown and his cronies. You have managed to sucker the average Brit into far too much house for the income, and now only slags from the carpetbagger states will live in a lot of these areas. My suggestion - open a Borscht restaurant, serve up lots of Vodka and cheap prostitutes and thugs - to make those lovely Russians feel at home.

[derek]

don't be silly. They were all over valued in the first place.

[David Legg]

Of all the problems that the C of E has, I had never associated them with extortionate house prices?

However, an adjustment in house prices in the UK is 20 years overdue.

Has the current generation considered how our children are supposed to acquire property?

[Simon]

Hey, hang around a bit longer and they'll be paying you soon! Property prices are plummeting where I live. Pleased I'm not selling!

[Conrad Gills]

Small island, over populated, poorly governed; if it were a restaurant dish some would say it had been 'over-seasoned' and by that I think we mean spoilt. Buying a house for children is the least of our worries, getting them through to that stage without being shot, knifed, drugged up or banged up would be a miracle in itself.

[Riccardo]

MMM... Well Don't you think those prices were overinflated??

[Ray]

It is not only the top end. I am trying to sell my 1939 3/4 bed detached bungalow. It went on the market at £245k earlier this year. It is now at £200k and we are lucky if we can even get a serious viewer. A lot of people are going to get hurt and not all of them will simply be down to greed. My mortgage of £188k is only that high due to divorce.

[carl]

I bought a new build (June 2008) in Bristol. It was up at £310k. They had dropped the price to £270k and put carpets, wood flooring and turfed it. I paid £250k (they paid the stamp duty) and they gave me £165k in a part exchange that they have just sold for under £145k. On that basis They lost over 30% off their price in Dec 2007. I still only think I paid the right money, and would expect to lose money if I sold now.

[Richard]

Our house has depreciated by 15% and we still can't sell it - it started off on the market in January at £370k and we accepted an offer which subsequently fell through of £315k - we are still well into positive equity, but at the moment no-one is buying in West Sussex

[Ian]

25%-35%? Check your facts: 25-50% was the best guess. And that was pre-Lehman.

[jgr]

A home is only worth what someone is prepared to pay.

[Steve]

The reality is that if the ordinary run of the mill person wants to sell his/her ordinary run of the mill house/flat then you will have to drop your asking price by around 15% and be prepared to sell for 20% less than prices achieved last year. We are currently trying to sell in what is still a prosperous, low unemployment part of outer London and this is the reality. Also, who should care about the mega so-called losses at the top end? these places were mostly bought with 'free' money anyway, not 20 - 30 years of monotonous grinding work and 2 hour daily commutes.

[Steve]

The reality is that if the ordinary run of the mill person wants to sell his/her ordinary run of the mill house/flat then you will have to drop your asking price by around 15% and be prepared to sell for 20% less than prices achieved last year. We are currently trying to sell in what is still a prosperous, low unemployment part of outer London and this is the reality. Also, who should care about the mega so-called losses at the top end? these places were mostly bought with 'free' money anyway, not 20 - 30 years of monotonous grinding work and 2 hour daily commutes.

[Longshanks]

I'm waiting for the Scots and Welsh to start whining about how they are victimised in this blog. It's a routine (and highly amusing/pathetic) phenomenon at this website.

I suggest that The Times launches a new "Oppressed Celts" blog where the whingers can air their hatred of the English away from the cut and thrust of serious debate on financial matters.

[tony]

When new labour took over the destruction of the country in 1997 semi detached houses in close proximity were selling from £35 to £55 thousand,my daughter bought one in 1996 for £34,000.It was valued at £157,000 last year.So the real rise is hundreds of % in just 10 years!!
HOW CAN ANY COUNTRY ALLOW SUCH A THING TO HAPPEN. ......Silly me it was all planned by Gordon so he could TAX TAX TAX and IF they sell even at a reduced price they are taxed again.
Will Council tax be reduced accordingly?? Dream on..pigs might fly..

[Mark]

I cannot believe the original prices in the UK. My house in Sweden is on the market,I'm retiring to a cottage, for GBP 290000 (today's rates). Large grounds, 5 bedrooms all en-suite, (www.wells.se), environmentally friendly heat exchanger. Why are houses in the UK so overpriced?

[Os]

Sloppy research in this article. The galley kitchen in the Guildford property is 2.2m wide not 2.3ft. Doesn't stop it being overpriced though.

[Frederick]

Greed has driven the price of a home beyond most working people. The stupid property shows on the BBC prattling on about profit, profit, profit have not helped. The government complacently sat on the fence watching it all happen and now they play the blame game. No more Lab or Cons for me I am thinking of voting for the unmentionable.

[Nick Dixon]

I have just had a look at the Savill's website for the " Villa " .
It look's like Tesco's from the front and the interior is truly awful , the architect need's to be shot and the clients who allowed it to be built.
Eight million pound's, there can't be more than £ 200,000 worth of materials for the whole job .
Don't tell me , a poor design and poor execution are made up for by location. Bo**ocks.

[raymond standring]

Prices are stil to high,people seem unwillng to accept falling property prices.When the prices were going up they could accept them, it reminds me of the tulip mania.Over inflated prices causes pain for everyone ,hence the current financial turmoil .

[raymond standring]

Have read all readers comments and all are valid reasons,commonsense really.

[Michael]

People hold an irrational belief that property prices always rise. Utter nonsense.

A 50% correction followed by no growth for a period really would not surprise me since I notice that the forced sale auction properties are now selling at 30-50% of what they achieved in early 2007 (50% discount on new build sales, 30% on older properties).

Second thing is that younger people are still priced out of the market, even at unaffordable income multiples and low interest rates. The government seems to be banking on buy-to-let investors to buoy the sub £175k market and keep houses out of reach from people on modest incomes. That I find disgusting as a Labour policy directed at those in their 20's and teens - for whom home ownership could become a myth.

[paul]

It isn't house prices that have drastically declined it is land prices. The rebuild costs for a house destroyed (for example by fire) have not changed that much. So imagine the losses for people who invested in land with planning permission with the intention of building and selling for a profit.

[Charlie, West London]

House prices have been insanely over-valued for a long time. Our economy is based on a false ideal of ever increasing growth. There can't forever be more money, more people, more food, more space etc.

Land registry confirms a loss in value of a bit under 5% but in our experience the real figures are closer to 20%. We completed on two properties last month, a house in Ealing and a 2-bed flat in Earl's Court. Both sold for 20% less than the most modest estate agent's valuation when marketed 6 months and a year ago. They were in desirable areas, in good condition and supposedly within the magic circle of London and yet they still sustained heavy losses. My advice, if you need to sell, price ahead of the market falls and save yourself time and anguish, otherwise sit tight and wait it out.