House prices in London have climbed by almost one third in the last year, estate agents haart have said.
The firm said the average London house price last month stood at £473,500 – up 2.5% from February, and up 29.5% from March 2013.
This contrasts with the average UK house price, which haart puts at £195,511.
Chief executive Paul Smith said: “London is now a country of its own in property market terms. There has been an unprecedented surge in both the number of new buyers, up 32.7% annually, as well as first-time-buyers, up 43.7% annually.
“Foreign investment continues to flood in. People know that there is no more lucrative place in the world to invest your money and see outstanding returns.
“Growth is spreading like glue across the country too, with property prices up 7.4% annually and average first-time buyer property prices up 9.8% annually. This is because demand and supply remain imbalanced, with new properties for sale up 1.8% annually and new buyer registrations up 24.5% annually.
“Open house events are now commonplace: we hold around 240 every weekend, and they often provide the fairest forum for buyers, while achieving an excellent price for the seller.”
* In a separate report from Sequence, London rents are said to have increased by 4% annually to stand at £1,427 – almost double the national average of £762. The number of new tenancies agreed across the country is up by 20% annually, and in London up by 37%.
Those in London benefiting from on paper wealth growth that exceeds their wildest dreams and imagination will be delighted! They certainly won't want anyone pouring cold water on the potential of the unstoppable, self fuelling, chain reaction of prosperity especially with wealthy foreign investors grabbing a piece of the action so reinforcing the bull market. However how economically sustainable is it?
There is no doubt that with lending rates so low funding an 80% interest mortgage on the average London Home makes very good sense, it is about £1000/ month cheaper than renting the same property, however what is going to happen when interest rates start to rise and suddenly mortgages aren't quite so affordable or available.
Long before the switch to Property Eye 'Japan Dave' stopped posting on EAT, if you are out there Dave dust off your old reckonings and prophesies. With rumours of interest rate rises becoming louder by the week it could be that a few unfortunate souls are buying into the market 3 years too late.
BTW can anyone recall which pundit or firm was reckoning the market wouldn’t recover until 2017?
You must be logged in to like or dislike this comments.
Click to login
Don't have an account? Click here to register