The average cost of a home in the capital dropped 1.8 per cent from $684,744.16 to $672,158.85 during the month, according to data from the Land Registry
The London property market slowed sharply in January following a surge in prices through the autumn, official figures reveal today.
The average cost of a home in the capital dropped 1.8 per cent from £519,653 ($684,744.16) to £510,102 ($672,158.85) during the month, according to data from the Land Registry.
That left prices just 2.2 per cent higher than a year previously, making London the slowest growing property market of any region in the UK.
Across the country as a whole, prices rose by 9.6 per cent to an average of £274,000 ($361,048.43) over the 12 months to January.
However, the picture in London was patchy with some boroughs still seeing strong year on year growth. Prices in Richmond were up 12.4 per cent, while Barking & Dagenham saw a 10.6 per cent rise, Tower Hamlets saw the biggest fall with prices down 5.1 per cent.
Mike Scott, chief analyst at estate agency Yopa said: London is still growing much more slowly than the rest of the country, up by only 2.2 per cent on the year. This will be partly a response to London workers being able to live further from the office as they are now working more from home, and partly a continuation of a trend that started in 2016, with slower growth in London after its house prices had grown much more rapidly than the rest of the country for the previous several years.
Detached homes saw the biggest fall, down just over three per cent, reversing the ‘race for space’ trend of the pandemic years, when flats were the hardest to sell.
House buyers may have been more cautious about taking on large mortgages in January after the Bank of England increased its key interest rate in response to rising inflation in December, making home loans more expensive.
Today’s higher than expected rise in inflation to 6.2 per cent makes further interest rate hikes more likely over the coming months.
