The London housing market seems to have lost a bit of its shine as last month’s home prices fell once more, the steepest slide since January this year.
Lovat Lane, London. Picture: iProperty
End of spring season part of the reason for the dip
The spring season is a traditionally busy period for the London property sector, but as it tapers off buyers are realizing that the season is ending and may have shied away from closing deals.
Last month marked the 10th consecutive month of falling home prices in London. They were 1% lower than that from the same month in 2017.
Despite the fall in London, property prices grew 0.4% last month and 1.7% annually on the national level. Home prices in London, however, continue to lag behind the rest of the country. The average price is now￡631,737 (S$1.1 million), 0.9% lower than the month before.
Higher prices in Northern regions due to stock shortage
Though new-to-market sellers are realizing that the spring selling season is coming to an end, the shortage of ready housing in the Northern regions have pushed home prices up. The situation in the Southern regions, however, is in contrary.
Britain’s exit from the European Union has resulted in some uncertainty in London’s property market and even the British Chambers of Commerce has trimmed their economic growth forecast. The growth estimates are now 1.3% for this year and 1.4% for the next. This may affect the property markets in the country, in particular, London.
