Markets ebb and flow and while it may be spring, the market is proving a little sluggish. The cost of buying a property, and I don’t mean just the price, but the actual buying costs which include stamp duty, are now so high. And for some prohibitively so.
First price rise since summer 2023 but Prime London sales market remains mixed February the saw the first annual rise in prices for prime London since June 2023. This is despite stock on the market continuing to increase, with the monthly activity data showing supply growing faster than demand. The latest February data indicated a reasonable volume of activity for the time of year. Sales transactions fell by 8.4% compared with the same month last year but were 6.8% higher than the 2017-2019 (pre-pandemic average) February average. The number of properties going under offer was 11.0% higher than a year ago, and 18.8% more than the 2017-2019 (prepandemic average) February average
Prime London sales market resilient in face of headwinds The prime London sales market recorded a steady start to 2025 in January. Performance in line with previous trends is not usually noteworthy but, in the context of negative sentiment around the wider economy, activity and values remaining broadly unchanged can be taken as a sign of resilience. There were 2.0% fewer sales transactions in January than the same month last year, and 0.6% more than the 2017-2019 (pre-pandemic average) January average. The number of properties going under offer was 18.7% higher than a year ago, and 37.9% more than the 2017-2019 (pre-pandemic average) January average.
New Year, Same Housing Market? 2024 was a stop-start year for the prime London property market. Activity was generally subdued but punctuated with bursts of intense activity, meaning transactions finished the year up on both 2023 and the pre-pandemic (2017 to 2019) average. The final quarter of the year took this to extremes, with record-breaking sales volumes in October followed by two quiet months
Prime sales market falls back as expected but pre-Budget momentum is maintained Activity in the prime London sales market was always likely to fall back from what proved to be an exceptionally strong October. October had the highest number of transactions across prime London for the month since our records began and was one of the top 10 figures for any single month. Some of that increase was likely due to deals being concluded in a rush to beat potential Budget tax increases. However, transaction numbers in November 2024 only underperformed slightly for the time of year. They were 4.2% down on the same month last year and 19.4% lower than the 20172019 (pre-pandemic) November average.
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