The prime Central London Property saw new instructions up by 10% in February compared to last year and 21% above the 2017-2019 February average, while sales values and activity slipped back. Data from LonRes shows values, based on the average achieved £ per sq ft figures, fell by 7.8% on an annual basis, leaving them 1.1% below where they were 10 years ago.
The top end of the market is still the best performing sales market sector with £5m+ activity well above long-term trend levels.
Sales in February were 4.2% higher than a year earlier and 25% ahead of the 2017-19 pre-pandemic February average. New instructions in this market rose by 8.4% annually. However, there a is a growing volume of homes for sale in this market, up 26% more £5m+ properties for sale at the end of February than a year ago. The longer-term context shows activity in 2024 to date is significantly higher than prepandemic levels. Sales are up more than 40% compared to the 2017- 19 average for the same months.
Nationwide’s latest House Price Index recording a slight monthly dip of 0.2% in houses prices between February and March although annual growth rose from 1.2% to 1.6%.