London house prices: Price of a home in the capital will set average buyer back by over £537k
London house prices continued their upward climb with the average price of a home in the capital £537,250 in March.
Halifax’s house price index found that Greater London alongside the North East, were the only areas of the country that did not experience a slowdown in the rate of annual house price inflation.
As the market recovers from the fall out from September’s mini budget, figures showed that the average house price increased 0.8 per cent in March.
On an annual basis, house prices were 1.6 per cent higher than a year ago, slowing from 2.1 per cent house price growth in February – with the average costs for a typical UK property at £287,880, compared to £285,660 in February.
This is the weakest rate of annual growth in nearly three-and-a-half years, having fallen since June 2022’s peak of 12.5 per cent.
As inflation weighs heavily on prospective buyers’ pockets, Kim Kinnaird, director at Halifax Mortgages, said that predicting exactly where house prices go next is “difficult”.
She explained: “While the increased cost of living continues to put significant pressure on personal finances, the likely drop in energy prices – and inflation more generally – in the coming months should offer a little more headroom in household budgets.”
London house prices will not drop ‘any time soon’
Matthew Thompson, head of sales at Chestertons, said: “House hunters may not be seeing the drop in London property prices that they had hoped for.
“In March, the average price at which properties sold via our branches stood at £1.37mn with neighbourhoods such as Putney, Fulham and Barnes being in particularly high demand with buyers.”
He added: “Since the start of this year, many homeowners put their sale on hold to observe the market which has led to demand further exceeding the number of properties available for sale.
“This is resulting in properties keeping their value with little room for price negotiation. Throughout March, the majority of London sellers have therefore been able to secure their asking price or even receive higher offers from buyers.”