Continued slump for London house price growth

The headline rate of house price growth across London boroughs has slowed to 1%, down from 4.3% a year ago. This is the lowest annual rate of growth since August 2011. In contrast, regional cities such as Edinburgh, Liverpool and Manchester are registering house price growth in excess of 7% per annum. The weakness in London’s housing market has been building since 2015 on the back of numerous tax changes aimed at overseas and UK investors and growing affordability pressures facing homeowners. As commentators are quick to point out, sales volumes are first to be hit when demand weakens and housing turnover across London is down 17% since 2014. Sales prices are next to follow but with few forced sellers the level of price falls remains low.