London house prices have fallen for the fifth consecutive month. Since the peak in home prices, the value of the average home has decreased by £15,600. According to data from Land Registry, for November 2018, the average price of a London home fell by 1.2 percent to £472,901.
As Jonathan Prynn from Homes&Property reports, prices topped out in London at £488,527 in July 2017 and have been slowly decreasing over the past 18 months, but without yet showing any sign of a full-scale collapse.
Given the Commons defeat on the 15th January for Theresa May’s Brexit deal, could cause a period of more decline in home prices.
Jonathan Prynn interviewed Lucy Pendleton (Director of agents James Pendleton) and Mark Dyason, (Managing Director of specialist lenders Thistle Finance).
Lucy Pendleton said: “London is feeling the strain as affordability continues to eclipse lack of supply. This latest episode of the Brexit horror show last night could easily be the straw that breaks its back and increase the capital’s rate of descent. London has been managing to stay within reach of break-even but that could now change.”
Mark Dyason said: “House prices in the capital have been cooling for some time but there’s potential for a more serious correction following May’s crushing defeat on Tuesday night. The odds of a disorderly, if not chaotic Brexit, have just shortened considerably and London, with its exposure to international business, is in the line of fire.”
Using the Land Registry data, Jonathan reports that prices rose in just 10 out of London’s 33 local authority areas in November with steep year on year falls seen in the City, where they fell 5.7 percent, Camden (down 4.6 per cent), Kensington and Chelsea (down 4.1 percent) and Tower Hamlets (down 3.8 percent.)
With the political uncertainty of Brexit, the number of completed deals is in decline. As of September 2018, there were only 59,691 sales within London, which is down approximately 23 percent compared to the previous year of 78,082 sales.
