Nine-month prime property price rally ends

Asking prices for prime properties – the top quarter of the market by value – have fallen by 0.5% over the past month, ending a nine month rally in which asking prices for prime properties hit new heights, according to the latest prime house price index from property website PrimeLocation.com.

Despite prices dipping in December, the average asking price for a prime property in the UK is now 4% higher (£19,097) than last January, at £473,373. In comparison, asking prices for the UK property market as a whole have increased by just £2,471 (1%) over the same period, with the average asking price now £218,468.

Prime property prices for houses for sale in London rose 0.9% to an average of £1,232,278, though some areas saw substantially higher increases than this. Haringey and Camden had the fastest appreciating prime properties, with monthly price increases of 6.1% and 2.4% respectively.

Nigel Lewis, property analyst at PrimeLocation.com says: “The London prime market continues to defy the rest of the country, with prices over 10% higher than they were this time last year. Prime asking prices are increasing at roughly double the speed of the average property in the capital, largely due to continued interest from overseas investors, which are helping push prices higher and higher.”

But overall, falling prices have been recorded in the Prime market across much of the nation with London and Wales the only regions posting significant gains. Asking prices in Wales rose for the 11th consecutive month in December, with gains of 0.4% taking the average Welsh prime property value to £366,638.

“Prime properties have performed well over the last year; outperforming the general market over the same period and boosting the value of the nation’s most expensive homes by almost £20,000,” says Nigel Lewis.

“As we’ve seen in previous years, the property market slows down in winter, with fewer transactions and lower prices as a result. This provides a great opportunity for people looking to buy, but the window is short, as the winter slowdown usually only lasts a month or two.”