The amount of unsold housing stock at estate agents is continuing to rise, despite plummeting new instructions, according to Rightmove.

Falling sales means that estate agents now have the highest amount of unsold stock on their hands for four years. The average branch has 53.3 properties, the highest since July 2015 when the average was 54.

Rightmove reported on 15 July that sales agreed are down 4.6% compared with this time a year ago, while new listings have fallen 7.8% on last July. Time to get a property under offer has also lengthened, to 62 days, the longest at this time of year since 2013.

However, the price of property coming to market has edged only very slightly downwards, just 0.2%, to average £308,692, the first monthly fall in asking prices for properties new to the market so far this year.

Miles Shipside, director at Rightmove, said: “Growing numbers of properties on agents’ books, even though fewer properties are coming up for sale, are evidence of a more challenging market.”