Property asking prices edged up just 0.7% over the past month as sellers became more realistic about how much their home was worth, research showed today.
A surge in people putting their homes up for sale, combined with more unsold properties, led to the muted increase in asking prices in England and Wales during the four weeks to May 8, according to property website Rightmove.
The rise, which left the average home costing £237,134, was well down on the jump of 2.4% during the month last year, and less than half the average increase for the period of 1.5%.
The group had its highest number of new listings for two years in the last full week before the election but it said there appeared to be fewer people who were either looking to move home or could get a mortgage to do so.
As a result of these factors, it said it had seen a "substantial jump" in the number of unsold properties estate agents had on their books, with this rising from an average number of 68 to 71 during the month.
It was the third consecutive month during which the group reported a rise in the number of unsold homes.
The situation contrasts with last year, when demand far outstripped supply, leading to buyers snapping up available properties, causing prices to rise.
Miles Shipside, commercial director of Rightmove, said: "While sellers don't appear to be put off, the rising levels of unsold stock indicate that buyers are not as willing or as able to act upon their pent-up moving desires.
"We forecast that prices in 2010 would end up broadly flat, with gains in the first half of the year falling away in the second half. This pattern seems to be emerging as supply begins to outstrip demand in the less desirable locations."
Yorkshire and Humberside saw the biggest price gain during the month at 3.5%, followed by the South-East at 2.1%. At the other end of the scale, prices fell by 1.5% in the North and by 1.1% and 1% in the East Midlands and North-West.
