Almost half of properties in prime central London (PCL) were reduced in price before sale in the first quarter of 2017, according to data from LonRes.

The analyst’s latest transaction and price figures for the first quarter of 2017 warns that year-on-year comparisons are distorted by last year’s Stamp Duty rush, but overall transactions across the three prime areas of the capital were down 26%.

The report looks at PCL, prime London and prime fringe, and found agents were selling properties at discounts on average of 9.1%, pushing average prices across the three areas down 1% to £1.68m.

Of those properties sold in the PCL area, 45% were at a discount.

The number of properties withdrawn from the market also increased for the fourth quarter in a row, with 72% of agents reporting a failure to achieve the price as the reason for taking the property off the market.

Looking ahead to the next 12 months, 35% of agents said they expected transactions to increase by 1.5%, while 42% believed sales values will decline by the same amount.

The report also suggested a more competitive lettings market with 46% of properties reduced in price before letting, and homes taking 15% longer to rent out.

In prime lettings, the number of properties let was up 16% year-on-year.

In the first three months of the year, the LonRes Prime London Lettings Index recorded an 8.3% fall in achieved rental values in PCL. Prime London and the prime fringe market also saw falls of 3.8% and 2.8% respectively compared with last year.

Meanwhile, a report from agents Strutt & Parker claims the PCL market may be through the worst of the downward price pressures following the Stamp Duty rush and Brexit vote.

Vanessa Hale, partner in research at Strutt & Parker, said: “UK house prices grew 4.1% year-on-year in the first quarter of 2017, but in PCL it was a very different story and prices fell by approximately 7%, leaving values around 13% down from the 2014 peak.

“The first quarter of 2017 has however seen a slight upturn in purchaser activity, and realistically priced good-quality stock is selling reasonably well.”

Forecasts from the agent predict UK prices will increase 3% this year and next, while PCL may decline 5% over the same period, but both are seen to grow by 4% from 2019.