The property market is being hobbled by "time-wasters" who refuse to accept good advice, a housing expert has warned.
Lee James Pendleton said today's UK house price inflation data reflected the unrealistic expectations of many vendors - particularly in London.
Data from the Office for National Statistics showed average house prices in the UK increased by 4.9 per cent in the year to January 2018.
The annual growth rate has slowed since mid-2016 but has remained broadly around 5 per cent since early 2017.
Mr Pendleton, the founder director at estate agent James Pendleton, said: "Transaction levels are plummeting and it’s obvious why this is happening alongside robustly high valuations.
"The property market, particularly in London, is being hobbled by time-wasters who refuse to accept good advice.
"These sellers have no realistic prospect of finding a buyer because their expectations are so out of this world. They have done very well out of the housing market but they haven’t earned that money, they’ve just lived in those homes and watched the magic money tree grow. Now they think prices can only go up.
"The result is that transactions levels drop, the speed of chains slows down and life is made more difficult for everyone involved. No one wins."
He added the resulting affordability problem meant the cheaper end of the market can not keep up with people’s unrealistic expectations and estate agents wind up wasting hundreds of thousands of pounds a year marketing properties that will not sell.
Mr Pendleton said: "We are in the business of selling homes, not beauty parading them in the faint hope of bagging a wild sales figure that defies the market. This is how you get the rounded topping out of prices that we’re seeing in this data, driven solely by low supply."
The latest data revealed the number of completed UK property transactions was down by 11.3 per cent compared to the previous year.
The most recent house price index for November 2017 showed 82,427 completed property transactions across the UK, whilst during the corresponding month in 2016, the total was 92,948. Month on month, November’s figure represented a decline of 6 per cent.
Martin Bamford, chartered financial planner and managing director for Surrey-based Informed Choice, said he has also noted that many sellers have unreasonably high price expectations.
He added: "Consecutive years of rising house prices have programmed home owners to believe that the only way prices can go is up. Many sellers are basing their sale prices on average prices in the local area, rather than an honest appraisal of what their own property is worth.
"Rather than considering a realistic value for their own property based on its unique characteristics and appeal to a buyer, they base price expectations on a wider property market average."
