Property transactions are down by 40% on 2007 levels according to latest figures from Rightmove. The online property portal expects to see 700,000 transactions in the market in 2008 – compared with last year’s 1.2 million – and vendors are now lowering their price expectations to secure a sale. Rightmove’s June house price index showed asking prices had been cut by 1.2% over the past month across the secondhand and new home markets, resulting in the average new home asking price reducing by £3,000 to £239,564. The fall is the first ever recorded in what is considered the peak month of the year for home sales. The fall was highest in the south east, which saw asking prices cut by 2.4%; asking prices in the capital fell by 1.4%. <br><br>The index also showed the decline in potential home buyers looking to move, as the ratio of properties for sale to potential buyers had now hit 15 to one. Miles Shipside, Rightmove’s commercial director, commented that asking prices were now starting to better reflect the state of the market. “In spite of the lowest housing transactions for 30 years, new sellers had been coming on to the market asking for record …