House price inflation is slowing – and London may not record any annual gains for the rest of the year.

Home.co.uk’s latest Asking Price Index for September found London had a fourth month of negative returns with prices falling 0.6% since August to £534,630.

Overall, asking prices in England and Wales have slipped for three consecutive months now at £295,813 for September.

Asking prices are down 0.2% on August with annual growth slowing at 4.6% from 5.3% a month before.

Properties are staying on the market for longer, up three days to 89 days over the last month across England and Wales, but that is still four days less than in September 2015.

This could also be driven by supply increasing, with the south-east, London and the east seeing 15%, 13% and 9% more properties on the market respectively.

Doug Shepherd, director at Home.co.uk, said: “Looking back, the history of the UK property market is characterised by such boom-bust cycles. Moreover, the first regions to rise have also been shown to be the first to fall.

“Prices have already started to slip following a surge in supply. Should this stream of new instructions continue to increase we will almost certainly see demand be overwhelmed.

“The east of England looks like a regional market at the top of the cycle and, should that fall too, the UK national house price figures will begin to look rather poor (as will mortgage lenders’ balance sheets).

“Of course, Brexit came after the above trends were already established, but the uncertainty and negative economic consequences are exacerbating the situation, pruning price rises in some regions and eliciting bigger falls in others.

“Suffice to say, in the near term, London property investment looks like a good way to lose a lot of money.”

The London view is reflected by Charles Curran of Chelsea agents Maskells, who says he has seen increased buyer interest but thinks sales volumes in the capital will drop 9% this year.

In London and much of the south-east the market has been hit by higher Stamp Duty on homes costing from £970,000. By contrast, buyers of lower-value homes pay far less under reforms introduced by George Osborne.

Curran said: “The new Stamp Duty system actually promotes price increases and the number of trades in lower value housing stock, which over time will take more of these properties into Stamp Duty and into the hands of the Exchequer.

“The only answer is to build more new homes and reduce [the highest rates of] Stamp Duty. Currently 12% stifles the south-east and prevents inward investment and is damaging associated property businesses like surveyors, architects and builders.”