Election uncertainty has hit the prime London market, with transactions down 26.7% on a year ago.

Separately, telephone handling firm Moneypenny said there was a 41% fall in valuations calls among its high-end London agents during April.

It described the London luxury market as being in a state of “paralysis” but said that the slowdown was apparent right across Greater London.

According to Lonres, transactions levels in the first three months of this year were hit hardest in the £5m to £10m market, down by 35.3% compared with the first three months of 2014.

Vendors of 39% of properties sold during the first quarter cut their asking prices at least once.

The average reduction was £181,000, equivalent to 10.7% of the final asking price, according to Lonres.

Furthermore, it says, purchasers were able to negotiate more reductions on 64% of properties that had already had their prices cut.

Lonres also says that new sales instructions in the first quarter of the year were 17% up on the same period a year ago.

Lonres said: “This may reflect the urgency of vendors trying to sell their properties before they are possibly subjected to some form of annual property tax (mansion tax).”

According to Lonres, while sales prices are deflating and transactions falling, the lettings market is more buoyant. “But even here, there is an air of underlying caution among agents,” says Lonres.

Yesterday evening, Moneypenny said that in a like-for-like comparison of its estate agent clients in the SW, W and NW postcodes, figures showed a major slowdown,with market appraisal calls down 41.38%, viewing calls down 12.35% and overall call volumes down by 8.36%.

At the highest end of the spectrum, Moneypenny said some agents had experienced a downturn in valuation inquiries in excess of 60% with one agent recording a 66.67% shift. A comparative figure of 45% represented the largest single-agent reduction in viewing call figures.

The wider picture for agents across the whole of Greater London shows total call numbers for the month were down by 14.63%, viewings down by 19.49% and valuations down by 19.47%.

Joanna Swash, commercial director for Moneypenny, said: “These are anxious times in the industry, which we are seeing reflected in activity for agents at our end, not just in relation to high value properties, but across the broader spectrum in the UK too.”

Peter Knight, managing director of the Property Academy, commented: “Every day we are seeing statistics and data that either talk the market up or down, which makes for a very confusing picture.

“Amongst this, though, the Moneypenny results are really worth taking note of because they measure the most important behaviour of the truly active home movers – telephone inquiries. Agents should pay attention to these findings: they have considerable implications for pipelines in 2-3 months’ time.”