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The London property market is often considered bulletproof compared to the rest of the UK but a specialist report suggests there may be trouble ahead.
LonRes is a subscription information service for estate agents, relocation agents, valuers and surveyors operating in the London area; its findings get little publicity in the mainstream media, hence this blog.
It covers 'inner' London (much larger than 'prime central', which is spoken of so much by hacks like myself, but nothing as large as Greater London).
Today's findings are graphically demonstrated in two sets of figures, each created from residential market activity over 28 days. The 'September-October' figure is from 6 September to 3 October, and compares with 'June-July which is from 6 June to 3 July.
This removes the Olympics period and the height of the summer holidays.
Total Properties Sold:
June-July 318
September-October 220 (a reduction of 31%)
Total Number of Price Reductions:
June-July 656
September-October 755 (an increase of 13.1%)
Average Days Taken To Sell
June-July 138
September-October 155 (an increase of 11.1%)
This is a telling quote from the report (and the telling part is not the use of the word 'less' when it perhaps should have been 'fewer'). "There is more stock appearing on the market and there are less buyers about. Agents are blogging that the market continues to soften, and that may translate into a hard landing as other markets worsen. The evidence is no longer anecdotal and our data confirms this."
Suddenly London no longer seems as safe as it did before the autumn.
If you would like to to comment on this article, click HERE to e-mail Graham.
