The Land Registry data published in October indicates that the high double digit annual growth in property prices across London (+18.6%) is mainly driven by ‘non-prime’ central London boroughs. This trend has been noticeable for a few months now with boroughs such as Hackney, Lambeth, Southwark, Walton Forest, Lewisham and Bromley achieving record annual growth, some in excess of 25%.
At the same time annual growth rates in prime central London are starting to converge towards growth levels which are more in line with the 40-year average of 11% p.a. This move could partly be attributed to the uncertainty surrounding the mansion tax affecting properties in the £2M price bracket. On the other-hand properties below this level are fairing particularly well. Fulham and parts of west Chelsea are a good example of this with the former registering a 0.9% growth in October and an annual growth rate of 23.6%.
In the longer term we expect property prices across London to keep on growing as demand shall still outpace supply although at a slower and more reasonable pace when compared to the past 12 months.
