London house prices dip over 2018

London house prices dipped in 2018, with uncertainty looming large over the capital in spite of double-digit growth across many of the UK’s other major cities.

Property prices in London tumbled 0.2 per cent last year, according to new data which underlines fears of a slowdown in activity across parts of the capital’s housing market over recent months.

However, other major UK cities have shown more resilience despite confidence hitting the capital in the wake of the Brexit vote, with Birmingham and Manchester seeing prices rise by 16 per cent and 15 per cent respectively since June 2016.

"Weaker growth in London, Cambridge and Aberdeen has been a large drag on the headline rate of house price growth across the UK cities index over the last year. House prices in London have been falling for almost 12 months while the rate of growth has slowed across cities in southern England, a result of growing affordability pressures, higher transaction costs and increased uncertainty," said Richard Donnell, research and insight director at Zoopla.

Donnell added: "The strongest performing cities are outside south eastern England where affordability remains attractive and employment levels are rising. We expect current trends in price growth to continue across the rest of this year, with prices rising in line with earnings for much of the UK but lower growth and some house prices falls in London and the South."

Evidence of growth in areas outside of London comes on the same day as the Mortgage Advice Bureau said that there had been a "positive end to 2018 as the market is still busy in the run-up to Christmas", with areas such as Yorkshire and the Humber, as well as the East and West Midlands, exceeding seasonal expectations.