Prime London sales hit highest yearly growth since 2015
The Prime London sales market has marked the highest annual growth since September 2015, as consumer confidence bounces back.
Average prices across central areas including the City of Westminster and the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea increased by 1.2 per cent in the year to October.
September was the sixth consecutive month of annual growth in the area – which also covers parts of Hammersmith and Fulham, and Camden.
The market has shrugged off the end of the stamp duty holiday in September, Knight Frank said.
The number of exchanges in October was three per cent below the five-year average (excluding 2020).
“We are not on the verge of the sort of dramatic double-digit bounce-back in prices seen after the collapse of Lehman Brothers in 2008,” said Tom Bill, head of UK residential research at Knight Frank. “But the prime London property market is resuming an overdue recovery that was interrupted by the pandemic.”
What’s more, rental value growth springs back from depths of pandemic with highest quarterly increase since 2011.
Average quarterly rental value growth in prime central London was 4.2 per cent in the three months to October, the highest figure since March 2011.
A lack of supply in the market has driven more tenants to renew agreements well in advance of usual.
“We have had multiple requests from tenants of family houses to renew from next summer because they have looked around and seen there is such limited choice,” said David Mumby, head of Prime Central London lettings at Knight Frank. “It shows how renting has cemented itself as a lifestyle choice for many people.”