The number of houses sold rose in October for the second consecutive month as sellers downgraded prices to a more realistic level.

According to the National Association of Estate Agents (NAEA), the average estate agent sold seven properties, up from six in September and the record low of five in August.

The findings agree with research from Rightmove showing that sellers cut asking prices by 2.9% during the four weeks to November 8 in a bid to sell before Christmas.

NAEA president Chris Brown said: "Sellers are beginning to face up to the reality that their houses are not worth as much now as they were 12 months ago. That is a difficult thing to do - but the silver lining is that the market is now more transparent for buyers.

"Prices are becoming realistic, and we hope that this provides the boost needed to encourage those families who so desperately want to buy houses to get onto the market."

The proportion of first-time buyers in the market also continued to increase during October, with the number of people buying their first home accounting for 9.6% of all sales.

But other figures were less encouraging, with the number of househunters registered with estate agents dropping to 196, from an average of 211 in September - a 7% fall. At the same time, the number of unsold homes estate agents had on their books rose to 98 from 91 as transaction levels remained low.

The NAEA is calling on the Government to introduce a stamp duty holiday for all properties in the Pre-Budget Report. It said that around 54% of estate agents did not have confidence in the Government's current policies and wanted more to be done.

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