That's ultimately the answer and how the game is supposed to work. Lower the prices enough and someone will buy.

But people don't want to then sell their property for £50k+ less than they paid for it, and I can understand their reluctance. So rather than just accept a lower price, they take the property off the market and just wait things out. Only those desperate enough will lower their price significantly, but I'd imagine those people would be a rarity.

So now you end up with house prices that don't really fall in any meaningful way and social mobility is hurt, which has wider implications.

But that would hurt the market!