Real Estate Marketing & Beyond
A new report in Propertywire has revealed that prices of prime central London property are still increasing. Prices in the UK capital rose by 0.5% in July compared to the previous month, and prices of top London homes have risen by 4.2% so far this year.
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According to the property firm Knight Frank, prices of prime central London property have increased by 7% during the past year. The areas that have seen the strongest price growth are Islington and Marylebone, where prices of homes are priced below £1 million pounds went up by 1.1% in June, and homes in the South Bank increased by 1.5%.
Liam Bailey, the global head of residential research before Knight Frank spoke to Propertywire about the London market, and pointed out that even though prices have reached new record highs, interest amongst buyers is still strong. The number of viewings of prime central property has increased by 15%, and the number of new applicants looking for property has risen by a similar amount. All this has meant that sales volumes have increased by 8.2% year on year.
Bailey also commented on the fact that Knight Frank forecast that prices would remain unchanged this year due to the impact of the stamp duty increases on the higher end of the market. He conceded that Knight Frank had overestimated this negative impact, especially as sterling became weaker during the first six months of this year, something that helped boost overseas interest in prime central London property. In addition the housing market has been helped by the economic recovery in London, and the government's much lauded Help to Buy scheme which was launched earlier this year.
Knight Frank has now increased their forecast for price growth of prime central London property to 6% for this year. However their latest report does show marked differences price bands and locations in London. For example property worth less than £1 million increased by 1% this month, while homes worth between £1 million and £2.5 million increased in value by 0.6%. Homes worth in excess of £10 million remained unchanged.
