According to Land Registry data, the average London house price was £508,000 in December 2023
London house prices dropped 4.8% in 2023, faster than any other region and near a 15-year high, but nowhere near the property market crash that was forecasted.
As per Land Registry data, the average London house price was £508,000 in December 2023. While that marks a drop of £25,000 on a year-on-year basis, it is a long way from forecasts of a double-digit percent crash for the capital’s property sector.
House prices stayed resilient as mortgage rates surged last year, in response to BoE rate hikes that were required to bring inflation back under control.
The average price is little changed from last month’s data, when values were down 5.5% year-on-year.
In the UK as a whole, prices were down 1.4%, which again was a much smaller decline than many experts had forecasted.
The figures from the Land Registry are based on completed sales, and so tend to lag many other measurements of house prices, such as those from lenders Nationwide and Halifax. According to the latest data from the two mortgage giants, a house price recovery is firmly underway, with four months of rising prices. Lower-than-expected January inflation figures could lead to a further recovery in house prices as mortgage lenders could cut rates in anticipation of the BoE trimming its own base rate soon.
Marc von Grundherr, Director of Benham and Reeves, noted: The drop in house prices seen during the latter stages of 2023 has been marginal in the grand scheme of things and they remain there or thereabouts when compared to the record highs seen during the pandemic market boom.
Of course, the London market has naturally been hit the hardest given the far higher cost of homeownership and the greater borrowing requirements will also mean that it trails the rest of the nation when it comes to a bounce back in positive property price growth, he said.
He added: However, when it does turn, it turns swiftly and it is only a matter of time before the sleeping giant of the UK property market awakens.
