Peter Rollings commenting on Land Registry house price figures
Tuesday, 28 September 2010
"House prices in London continue to increase steadily and the good news for the market is that this growth has solid foundations – underpinned by consistent activity levels. Annually, London property sales were 33% higher in June this year, compared to just a 9% rise nationally. The misapprehension that house prices are falling has led to some homeowners hesitating about putting their properties on the market in the past couple of weeks, but the official price figures from the Land Registry – based upon actual sales and not asking prices – shows that these concerns are unfounded, particularly in London. Whereas the severe shortage of mortgage funding on offer is stifling demand from buyers in certain parts of the country, interest from buyers in the capital has remained consistently high. The large proportion of cash buyers – unaffected by issues in the mortgage market – and overseas buyers has helped London to withstand the problems witnessed in other markets across the UK. The market traditionally sees a pick up in autumn following the quieter summer holiday period and assuming that the supply of property does not dry up completely, this should help drive activity levels further throughout the remainder of the year."
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