The number of houses being sold in London is at its lowest level for more than a decade, research shows today.
Sellers have been forced to shave hundreds of thousands of pounds off asking prices as a result.
In one case, a house in Paultons Square, Chelsea, has had £250,000 cut off its original asking price of £3.5m in a bid to find a buyer.
About 9,000 properties were sold in the capital in the first three months of this year. Last year, homes were being sold at the rate of 16,000 a month. According to property information website mouseprice.net, sales have been slower than in any period since 1995.
