New seller asking prices increased by 0.5% (£1,950) this month to £368,231, according to Rightmove. The firm added that although newly advertised property prices typically rise at this time of year, this is the smallest increase in its October report since 2008, and significantly below the average increase of 1.4% seen at this time over the last 20 years.

However, despite this more muted rise in average asking prices, buyer activity levels remain significantly lower than during the post-pandemic market frenzy. The number of sales being agreed is now 17% below this time last year, with the proportion of homes finding a buyer and being marked sold subject to contract dropping from an average of eight in ten at the height of the frenzy, to six in ten now.

Buyers are still active for the right property at the right price, but agents advise that sellers need to capture a buyer’s attention with a competitive price from the first day of marketing. Rightmove analysis shows that starting too high and reducing the price later can seriously damage the chance of a sale, though many sellers appear to be struggling to adjust their pricing to help them to sell in this more challenging market.

Tim Bannister, a director at Rightmove, says “New seller asking prices have seen a rise, as they usually do at this time of year following the summer holiday season. While this year’s much more subdued rise indicates that some new sellers are gradually heeding their agents’ advice to price competitively, agents report that other sellers still need to adjust their expectations on the price that they are likely to achieve in the current post-pandemic, lower-activity market, where six in ten homes are now selling rather than eight in ten.