Nationwide (building society) has reported an average growth in property prices of 0.3% across the UK for the month of January, but official London numbers are not yet available. High value properties have started to experience an adjustment in price mainly due to the stamp duty increase that is being funded by sellers through a reduction in asking prices.
It is expected that this situation will persist for a few months till the market regains equilibrium. Properties below £1M however appear to be performing well both in prime central London and also in non-prime London. The performance of this segment of the market will have a positive impact on London’s overall performance however we doubt that it will be enough to maintain an overall positive growth rate in the first quarter of this year.
We expect stronger performance towards the latter part of the year and into 2016.
