This article is an external press release originally published on the Landlord News website, which has now been migrated to the Just Landlords blog.
Homeowners in London have been buoyed with the news that demand for property in the capital has risen for the first time this year. What’s more, new figures show that the average London home value has hit the £500,000 mark.
Climbs
A report from online estate agent eMoov.co.uk suggests that demand for homes across the boroughs of the capital rose by 7% since March. Despite this, demand is still down 15% on the same period twelve months ago.[1]
‘It doesn’t surprise me that despite the market cooling in some of the capital’s more prestigious boroughs, house prices in London have continued to rise,’ commented Russell Quirk, founder of eMoov. He feels that, ‘it’s long been accepted that London is one of the most expensive cities to live in the world, let alone the UK, but now that the average house price has tipped above the half a million mark, it really highlights how out of control the property market has become here.’[1]
Quirk states that, ‘the main factor in price growth is always demand and our latest Property Hotspots Index found that of all the London boroughs, demand has increased across the board by 7% on average since March, having steadily declined since this time last year.’[1]
Demand for property in London rises
Exodus
However, Mr Quirk went on to say, ‘the fact that house prices outside of London and the South East have continued to increase by 5.2% shows that the London exodus for more affordable property in continuing.’ He concluded by noting that this is, ‘hardly surprising given the new London average and the resulting ripple effect, as buyers search for a realistic way to get on the UK property ladder.’[1]
[1] http://www.propertyreporter.co.uk/property/demand-for-london-property-increases-for-the-first-time-in-a-year.html
