Coastal areas in southern England have the most competition amongst sellers, meaning property buyers are well placed to haggle in those areas.
Zoopla analysis said this particularly applies in Truro, Exeter, and Bournemouth, where more than a quarter of homes for sale have been on the market for over six months, more than a third higher than the average.
Prices in these areas are between 1.1% and 1.4% lower than a year ago.
Other areas with an above-average stock of unsold homes include York, Torquay, and Llandrindod Wells in Wales, markets where sellers need to be most realistic on price if they want to sell this year.
Richard Donnell, executive director at Zoopla, said: “There is plenty of demand for homes and more people are looking to move. However, buyers also have much greater choice to choose from, especially across areas of southern England. There is a clear link between buyer choice and price inflation and how long it is taking homes to sell.
“Sellers need to understand local market conditions when considering how to market their home, setting the right price and how quickly they would like to sell. The risk of being too ambitious on price is your home taking more than twice as long to find a buyer – or not selling at all.
“We expect UK house price inflation to continue in a range of 1.5-2% over the rest of the year. There are signs that prices are firming in southern England but price growth is slowing across northern regions. The market continues to record seasonally strong sales as those selling their home seek to secure their next home. The market remains on track for 5% more sales in 2025 at 1.15m.”
There are also markets with a lack of supply, including Dundee, Wolverhampton, outer suburbs of London, and Northampton.
Homes that need to reduce their asking price to attract more interest take, on average, 2.4 times longer to sell than those that do not need a price reduction, Zoopla found.
Amy Reynolds, head of sales at Richmond estate agency Antony Roberts, said: “We are seeing a lot of price reductions, and those reductions do lead to sales.
“It’s a real challenge to get pricing right at the moment with all the political talk around potential tax changes, as well as the significant amount of stamp duty buyers face. London is very different to the rest of the country, and even within London we have micro-markets.
“Here, the mid-range market is still healthy, whereas it’s tougher at the first-time buyer level and at the very top end.
“When a property is initially overpriced, it can sit for a while, but once the price comes down to where buyers feel it should be, it will sell.”