Buyers looking for houses at the top end of the market have a wider choice than usual as the season winds down towards Christmas. While sales at the upper end of the market were brisk in the spring, the opposite has been the case this autumn and winter, largely because of an over supply of large family homes.

The problems of selling some has been accentuated by the fact that fairly similar houses in the same locations were sold earlier in the year, thus reducing the number of buyers in the market.

This is in stark contrast to previous years when there were always more buyers than houses available, particularly in the £1 million-plus bracket. Agents blame the slowdown on the fact that many of the newly rich business people have already bought prestigious homes in the last two or three years after cashing in on the unprecedented economic boom.

There are clearly fewer of these buyers around, and those still looking for homes have wider choice than usual. Most of the top agents still have a number of premium properties on their books, some of which have been reduced in price. Others are being held over for relaunch in the new year when sales are traditionally strong before the over supply sets in.

"It is a quiet time at the moment," says Tom Day of Lisney, which handles more expensive homes than any other agency. "It's disappointing that some of the better houses have not made the figures we expected. There are buyers out there but they are sitting tight at the present time. They may start realising that they are getting value for money at these prices. We don't anticipate huge growth next year but there is going to be steady selling and reasonable growth."