Despite London house prices continuing to slump, the city’s most expensive neighbourhoods have seen prices surge in March. According to the latest house price index from Your Move, the borough of Kensington and Chelsea saw an increase of over 30 per cent compared to the same month last year.
Prices in London overall fell 0.7 per cent, meaning prices have declined for a third straight month across the capital. The average cost of a property in London is now £602,539, down 1.5 per cent from last year.
However, thanks to a number of high-value sales in the city’s most expensive neighbourhood, the drop in prices is no longer concentrated in the premium market. According to the research, the top 11 of London’s 33 boroughs have actually seen the smallest fall over the last 12 months to March this year.
Seven high value property sales in Chelsea and Kensington of over £10m pushed the average price in the area to a new high of over £2.5m. By contrast, other premium neighbourhoods have seen huge drops, with prices in Wandsworth slipping 15.9 per cent in the last year.
Overall, the Your Move report shows that the annual house price growth across England and Wales has slowed for the tenth successive month in March to 0.7 per cent, compared to 5.1 per cent in the same month last year. The average house price in England and Wales is now £301,490, up just £1,985 on a year ago.
But while house prices continue to tumble in London, six out of the ten regions examined by the report have set new peak average prices. Excluding London and the south east, the rest of England and Wales has seen prices grow at 2.6 per cent, with Bristol leading the charge at 8.4 per cent growth.
“The slowdown in London and the south east is now well established,” said Oliver Blake, managing director of Your Move. “Yet the performance of many of our key cities and regions elsewhere shows that there’s still life in the market yet.”
Source: City A.M.