The number of homes put on sale during this month is down by a resounding 26.9% compared to new listings in November last year, research by Rightmove shows. It is believed to be a result of three factors: political uncertainty, Brexit and the traditional seasonal slowdown.
“Our monthly poll of the housing market shows a clear swing towards hesitation for prospective sellers, with buyers losing the extra choice that thousands more newly marketed properties would bring,” says Miles Shipside, Rightmove’s housing market analyst.
There is still a decrease in sales numbers, only slightly, as London buyers are taking advantage of asking prices that are down by 1.4% - or £8,926 – in the last month. Across the UK, asking prices fell by 1.3% in the same period and are unlikely to revive until the New Year at least.
Rightmove’s November house price index found that the average property in the capital now has a price tag of £609,506. The asking price for a home in Zone 1 stands at just over £1.3 million, but you could pick up a home in Zone 4, 5, or 6 between £465,000 and £488,000.
The best-performing individual boroughs over the past year have been in east London, led by Tower Hamlets, with asking prices up by 3.5% to an average of £592,000. Homes in Waltham Forest, Bexley, Hackney and Havering also saw modest annual price growth, along those in Southwark and Sutton.
However, two thirds of the capital’s boroughs have seen prices decline in the past 12 months, led by three leafy south-west London boroughs: Richmond upon Thames (-6.1%), Kingston upon Thames (-5.9%) and Wandsworth (-4.5%).