The number of new listings available to assess in Rightmove’s index of asking prices has plummeted by 41% in just a month as the portal warns there are not enough properties coming to market to provide meaningful figures.

Analysis of Rightmove’s House Price Index for April by EYE found the portal measured just 65,531 asking prices on new listings by agents between March 8th and April 11th, which it said made up around 95% of the market.

This is down from 111,464 in March and 108,107 in February.

In contrast, its April 2019 index was based on 112,570 properties.

It is the lowest figure since January’s index included just 64,629 listings for the traditionally quieter Christmas period between December 8th 2019 and January 11th 2020.

Rightmove has described the market as paused but said it was looking different before lockdown was announced on March 23rd, with sales agreed up 11% annually at the time.

This signalled the best start to the year since 2016 but now Rightmove says agents are focusing on holding together sales agreed and said they should offer virtual viewings to maintain demand.

The portal has released an online viewing label for agents to highlight properties for sale or to rent that have video tours.

Its latest report showed average asking prices fell 0.2% on a monthly basis and 2.1% annually to £311,950.

Total available stock for sale is down 2.6% since lockdown was imposed, Rightmove said, with an average of 48.5 properties on the platform per agent.

Visits to Rightmove fell by around 40% at the time of the lockdown announcement but is now said to be recovering with page views of its sold prices section running just 20% lower than usual levels.

Miles Shipside, director and housing market analyst for Rightmove, said: “Agents report that there is good co-operation, with both buyers and sellers keen to hold deals together.

“While some buyers may express concern over the possibility of short-term dips in house prices, many are taking the longer-term view and living up to their commitments to proceed.

“This is being helped by mortgage lenders extending the life of existing mortgage offers by three months, and new legal rules on flexible completion dates.”