Estate agents have been hit by a 17% reduction in new instructions across all UK regions, Home.co.uk claims.

Data from the property website claims that supply of new listings fell across the UK last month, with a 33% drop in London.

Total stock levels are now down 5.8% in the UK and are 21% lower in London, says Home.co.uk.

The drop has been blamed on Brexit uncertainty but Doug Shephard, director of Home.co.uk, said the lack of supply was also giving vendors the confidence to increase asking prices, with values up in all regions except the north-east between August and September.

Annual asking price growth also came out of negative territory for the first time in eight months, albeit growing by just 0.1% to £309,692.

Asking prices were still down annually in London, the east and south-east of England.

Shephard said: “Brexit jitters have slashed supply across the UK.

“No one predicted this: a result of extreme caution on the part of potential sellers.

“Non-committal vendors are, through their inaction, cutting off supply. Consequently, stock levels are falling rapidly, thereby creating at least for the time being a mismatch between supply and demand, which is pushing up prices.

“Moreover, this is no buyers’ market. There is relatively very little to choose from and competition will be fierce, especially in London, where the first green shoots of recovery are already showing.”