Prime Central London housing gloom may be lifting at last

There may be signs that the gloomy housing market which has hit Prime Central London for some years may finally be lifting - at least a little.

Property investment consultancy Central London Portfolio, which publishes a regular and well-respected snapshot of the market, says average annual prices in PCL in June stood at £1,878,004 – a static picture versus 2018. 

Whilst there has been a monthly fall of 2.2 per cent, prices in the most recent quarter rose 2.7 per cent.

However, annual transactions to June stand at just 3,244, a drop of 13.1 per cent over the year, with just 63 sales per week. 

Transactions are still 12.5 per cent less than the very lowest point in the global financial crisis but PCL says that in the short term there has been a marked quarterly increase in transactions of 23 per cent. “This improvement has been echoed anecdotally with reported increases in buyers and offers” says the consultancy.

In Greater London, average prices in June stood at £624,241. This represents an increase of 1.7 per cent for the month and the strongest performance over the year. Annual prices have increased by 1.0 per cent over 2018.

Quarterly transactions have followed suit with PCL, albeit not as dramatically, rising by 14.2 per cent; on an annual basis, sales fell by 4.2 per cent which is the lowest rate of decline since 2014.

However, Central London Portfolio warns that London property faces further headwinds. “The new Tory leadership and a ‘do or die’ stance on exiting the EU by October 31 may bring further uncertainty to our political climate” it cautions.

Meanwhile across England and Wales - and excluding the high-priced Greater London region - average prices stood at £255,050 for June. This represents a quarterly fall of 0.1 per cent and what the consultancy describes as “negligible” annual growth of 0.3 per cent, which is the lowest rate since 2011.