Agency says London homes under £120,000 on verge of extinction

The average house price in London is now £484,700 - over twice the national average - and property in the capital priced under £120,000 is on the verge of extinction according to research by high-end agency Jackson-Stops & Search.

The agency says that back in 1995 - 21 years and two downturns ago - some 87 per cent of properties sold in London priced under £150,000. Today the market has undergone a complete reversal with only two per cent of homes sold in the capital now below this price. 

The agency says homes sold below £120,000 “will completely disappear from the market this year.”

London has seen a near seven fold increase in house prices over the last 21 years, with the average price of properties sold in the capital, although JS&S claims 27 per cent of properties sold in the capital last year were completed at under £300,000.

Back in 1995, when the “£10,000” London property disappeared from the market, nearly 75 per cent of the capital’s homes sold were under £100,000. Now there are no properties priced at £100,000 left on the market - “they died out completely in 2008” says the agency.

“London’s past and recent performance still drives consumer sentiment. The figures really say it all – a house bought for £198,000 in 2002 is now worth more than £550,000” says the agency’s head of research Robert Butterworth.