London's house prices continue to drop

Sellers have been forced to slash prices

Once a buoyant market, house prices in London are continuing to drop. Average asking prices are down by just over £11,000 year on year. The largest price drops since July 2017 have been experienced by one and two-bedroom homes, which provides a vacant step on the ladder for frustrated first-time buyers.

And property experts are pointing out that sellers have been forced to slash prices. The cost of first-time properties has fallen 3.5% to an average of around £486,000 - that’s according to research carried out by Rightmove. The price of three and four-bedroom houses has remained unchanged at around £700,000.

The drops across the London market are a stark contrast to continued increases around the rest of the UK. Scotland has seen the highest rises at 6.7%.

The Office for National Statistics (ONS), which puts together the house price report, based on data from the Land Registry, said house prices in London have been steadily decreasing since the EU referendum in June 2016.

Easier to sign at the touch of a button

The ONS pointed out that the average cost of a home in the UK back in March was roughly £224,000. That’s £500 less than the previous month, but £9,000 more than in March 2017.

And along with the good news that London prices are falling is the invention of Property Inventory Software https://inventorybase.co.uk/ which makes it easier to sign for a property at the touch of a button. The software also means that agents can schedule visits and accept viewing appointments directly from prospective buyers.

According to The Guardian research from the Institute for Fiscal Studies demonstrates how the prior surge in house prices, well above income increase, has robbed younger people of the dream to buy a home. The study shows that among 25 to 34-year-olds earning a salary of between £22,200 and £30,600 each year, ownership dropped to just 27% in 2016. That was from a massive 65% two decades ago.

The drop in London prices may be making it marginally easier to get on the ladder, but schemes such as Help to Buy really empower younger people. And last year experienced the highest number of first-time buyers since 2006 - all signs that the UK market is moving in the right direction for tomorrow’s buyers