London house prices finally show ‘signs of life’ in one per cent October rise
London house prices started to show “signs of life” last month due to renewed buyer demand and a shortage of property coming to the market.
House prices in the capital grew one per cent year on year in October following a period of year-on-year price falls. In October 2018 London house prices dropped 1.1 per cent year on year.
Read more: How London boroughs’ house prices have changed since the last election
Southwark reported the strongest year-on-year growth of 2.5 per cent to an average price of £490,800. Hounslow, Kingston upon Thames, Islington and Newham completed the top five boroughs for house price growth.
Commuter towns dominated the bottom of the table, with Mole Valley – a district in Surrey to the south of the capital – seeing the greatest decline as house prices fell 1.8 per cent year-on-year.
Woking and Runnymede in Surrey and Dacorum in Hertfordshire also saw large drops even for London house prices. And Kensington and Chelsea suffered a 1.5 per cent decline in house prices to bring its average price to £1.17m.
Richard Donnell, research and insight director at Zoopla, said: “After a three-year repricing process accompanied by a sizeable decline in housing sales, the London housing market is finally showing signs of life.
“The shift in momentum is clear, resulting from a lack of supply, increased sales and more realistic pricing, which bode well for higher sales activity in 2020, rather than a pick-up in house price growth.”
However, the latest data from UK Finance suggested that mortgage lending dipped in October, suggesting buyers were still hesitant to commit due to ongoing political uncertainty caused by Brexit and the upcoming general election.
Gross mortgage lending across the residential market last month was £25.5bn, a dip of 0.9 per cent compared to October 2018.
Mortgage approvals for home purchases by the main high street banks increased three per cent and remortgage approvals soared 12.7 per cent.
| Local authority | Average price | % change October 2019 | % change October 2018 |
| Southwark | £490,800 | 2.5 per cent | -2.5 per cent |
| Hounslow | £419,700 | 1.8 per cent | -1.7 per cent |
| Kingston upon Thames | £506,500 | 1.7 per cent | -1.4 per cent |
| Islington | £604,800 | 1.7 per cent | -3.2 per cent |
| Newham | £372,000 | 1.6 per cent | -0.1 per cent |
| Hackney | £532,600 | 1.6 per cent | -1.9 per cent |
| Wandsworth | £612,400 | 1.5 per cent | -2.9 per cent |
| Hammersmith and Fulham | £708,900 | 1.3 per cent | -4.4 per cent |
| Toward Hamlets | £466,100 | 1.2 per cent | -2.9 per cent |
| Richmond upon Thames | £690,600 | 1.2 per cent | -2.1 per cent |
| City of London | £759,900 | 1.1 per cent | -1.9 per cent |
| Hillingdon | £410,900 | 0.9 per cent | -1.4 per cent |
| Merton | £504,600 | 0.9 per cent | -0.8 per cent |
| Brent | £486,400 | 0.8 per cent | -2 per cent |
| Lewisham | £415,000 | 0.8 per cent | -1.4 per cent |
| Bromley | £461,600 | 0.8 per cent | -0.6 per cent |
| Camden | £737,700 | 0.7 per cent | -4.6 per cent |
| Bexley | £348,500 | 0.7 per cent | 1.4 per cent |
| Barnet | £543,100 | 0.7 per cent | -1.4 per cent |
| Ealing | £475,800 | 0.6 per cent | -1.9 per cent |
| Sutton | £392,000 | 0.6 per cent | -0.9 per cent |
| City of Westminster | £953,000 | 0.5 per cent | -3.7 per cent |
| Lambeth | £522,200 | 0.4 per cent | -2.6 per cent |
| Haringey | £512,600 | 0.4 per cent | -1.9 per cent |
| Havering | £368,200 | 0.4 per cent | 0.9 per cent |
| Enfield | £402,700 | 0.3 per cent | -1.2 per cent |
| Waltham Forest | £442,300 | 0.3 per cent | -0.3 per cent |
| Greenwich | £380,300 | 0.3 per cent | 0.1 per cent |
| Redbridge | £427,500 | 0.0 per cent | 0.3 per cent |
| Harrow | £471,900 | -0.2 per cent | -1.5 per cent |
| Barking and Dagenham | £293,600 | -0.3 per cent | 1.7 per cent |
| Croydon | £375,700 | -0.3 per cent | -0.6 per cent |
| Kensington and Chelsea | £1,175,000 | -1.5 per cent | -3.9 per cent |