Property owners dropped their original asking price by an average of 15.5 per cent in 2014, a smaller reduction than in the previous two years, according to a leading estate agency.

In 2013, the gap between the asking price and the price real estate companies eventually accepted was 16.21 per cent, while in 2012 it was 23 per cent.

The figures only relate to one agency, Remax, but it is one with three times the presence of its closest competitor.

Gozo was not included as the numbers were smaller and might not be statistically significant. And they do not reflect properties sold directly or through a sensara (broker), which account for almost 60 per cent of property listings.

Remax also compared the average selling price of all the properties it had sold with the average asking price of all the properties listed, not just those that had been sold, and found the gap was 35 per cent.

“This explains why so many properties remain on the market for a much longer period than they should,” Remax said.

The figures also put into context the recent property price index as calculated by the Central Bank of Malta, which is based on advertised prices and does not consider the selling price. For 2014, the CBM reported a rise of seven per cent, up from 2.1 per cent the previous year.

The Remax study could not identify the rise in property prices as the mix of properties sold was affected by the increase in the number of smaller properties for first-time buyers, spurred by special terms to boost this sector.