Prime London house prices will remain stable until the end of the year, according to estate agent Marsh & Parsons.
Following an 11.4 per cent climb in prime London property values over the past 12 months – equivalent to £163,973 – there has been a sharp drop in the rate of quarterly price growth across the capital, and prices are predicted to flatten until the end of 2014.
The average prime London property has risen 0.5 per cent in value between July and September, compared to 3.1 per cent between April and June.
This tailing off is partly due to an increase in the number of prime London properties coming onto the market – a 13 per cent increase the last three months. This has cooled the level of competition in the market and the number of registered buyers per available property in prime London has fallen from 24 at the start of 2014 to 12 in September.
Peter Rollings, chief executive of Marsh & Parsons, comments: “We’ve reached a plateau in the course of house price growth, and the path paved out for London property prices for the rest of 2014 looks to be levelling off. This isn’t terminal, but just a necessary pit-stop in the long-term growth and sustainability of the market.
“And it doesn’t mean we’re in for a quiet winter either. Sales will continue, albeit at a more ‘normal’ level, as buyers revel in the greater choice on offer, and without the frenetic competition many faced at the start of the year. With more realistic pricing sellers are prospering too, and on average 98 per cent of the asking price is currently being achieved on properties sold.”
Typically house sales follow a seasonal pattern, but this has been hidden by the “hubbub” surround the property market recently, Rollings says. He expects the market to come out of hibernation in January.
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