Latest figures show London house prices up by an average £11k in March
03-29-2014
By Steve Bax
The latest House Asking Price Index produced by estate agents Rightmove reveals that the price of new properties coming on to the market is now at an all time high, with outer London boroughs now surging
A young couple study homes in an estate agents' window
The price of property coming on to the London housing market is up by an average £11,217 in March, reaching a new all time high.
The 2.1% price surge in the capital is no longer being driven by the prime London boroughs. In spite of the four most expensive boroughs recording an average fall of 1.3% this month, London overall is still up by 2.1% on the month as price rises continue to ripple out.
The average price of property coming to the market in London is now £552,530. This new record is up 1.5% (+£8,298) on the previous high achieved in October 2013.
Miles Shipside, Rightmove director and housing market analyst said: "Demand continues to outstrip supply in many areas and with the spring market approaching, further record highs are to be expected. Buyers seeking better value are pushing up demand and consequently prices in more affordable areas, causing a wave of new price peaks in areas before rolling on to the next cheaper location.”
In the four most expensive boroughs, where average asking prices are more than £1million, Westminster property prices dropped by 2.3%, Kensington and Chelsea by 2.4%, Camden by 1.4%, with the only borough holding steady being Hammersmith and Fulham with a marginal rise of 0.8%.
Mr Shipside added: "The slack caused by prime London’s slowdown has been taken up by London boroughs further out. While the top-end locations remain sought after and highly valued, the slow-down in the pace of their rises was bound to happen after some very heady increases.
"There is a definite spring seller upturn which is great news for buyers who have been starved of fresh stock in popular locations. While the greater choice available to buyers will mitigate some of the upwards price pressure that many sellers have been able to exert, structural shortages remain in the housing supply in London."
Increasing prices are luring more sellers back into the market as well, with a 10% year-on-year increase in the number of properties coming onto estate agents’ books. This appears to be a definite recovery in property supply to help meet buyer demand as more sellers are enticed to market. The current weekly run-rate of 4,494 newly advertised properties compares with 4,087 in the same period last year.
Rightmove.co.uk is the UK’s largest property website, advertising around 90% of all homes for sale via estate agents across the UK. Each month it uses asking price data of up to 200,000 properties coming onto the market to produce this House Price Index - billed as the largest, most accurate and up-to-date monthly index.