LONDON (MarketWatch) -- British house sellers became increasingly desperate in November, cutting asking prices by 2.9% from the previous month and by 7.1% from levels seen a year ago, U.K. property Web site Rightmove reported Monday.

The average property asking price declined to 222,979 pounds ($330,222) from 229,691 pounds in October, Rightmove's monthly index of house prices showed.

Although the 7.1% annual decline is the largest ever seen in November, it's not likely to do the trick as far as hopes for some sign of price stabilization go: Rightmove indicated that agents say sales have taken place at around 20% below the peak asking price.

"Some sellers could avoid months of disillusionment and despair if they started marketing at an asking price a lot closer to where the evidence indicates they are likely to end up," said Miles Shipside, Rightmove's commercial director. "While average asking prices have fallen by 7.1% over the past year, in most parts of the country you should look to at least double that discount to achieve a sale."

Echoing other surveys, Rightmove said only 80,000 new sellers entered the market in November -- the lowest since 2002 -- as other potential sellers hold out hope for a price recovery.

The Bank of England earlier this month slashed its key lending rate by 1.5 percentage points, all the way down to 3% -- the lowest level seen since 1955.

Shipside said the low base rate and expectations for further interest-rate cuts leave room for sales volumes to pick up in 2009 as cash-rich purchases take advantage of a buyers market.

"They are in a position where mainstream buyers are still forced out of the market by restrictions on mortgage availability and lenders' demands for bigger deposits, and this should start to ease at some stage next year," he said.