Latest London Property News: May 2024
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| The prime London sales market showed signs of improvement in April, with average achieved prices up on March. Under offer numbers grew by 19.9% compared to last April after two months of falls, 28.5% above the 2017-2019 April average according to the latest Lonres figures. This suggests that underlying demand from buyers is still there and raises hopes that transaction levels will improve in the short term. The picture with supply across prime London is that it is also growing steadily. The number of new instructions in April was 26.7% up on a year earlier and 23.0% above the 2017-2019 April average. Set against relatively subdued sales figures this is causing the stock of homes available to buy to increase too. At the end of April there were 10.5% more properties for sale than a year earlier. We are consistently seeing that sales figures are trailing slightly behind where you would expect them to be based on under offer numbers. For example, for the year to date (Jan-Apr 2024), the number of homes that went under offer across prime London was 15% higher than the 2017-2019 average, while the number of sales (exchanges) was 0.3% below, due to increased fall throughs and longer time on the market. The sales and under offer data indicates that levels of buyer demand are holding up. An additional, broader measure of demand is the number of enquiries from buying agents. Buying agents’ purchasers are generally considered serious and motivated buyers. These enquiries increased steadily from early 2019 to a peak in December 2023, and in April 2024 remained within 5% of that recent high point, suggesting demand remains robust. The current 12-month average of enquiries is more than triple the levels seen in 2017 to 2019. Other sales market metrics suggest that vendor motivation continues to grow. So far this year we have recorded 24.2% more price reductions compared to last year and 3.1% fewer withdrawals, both of these in the context of 10.5% more homes on the market. If these trends continue, they will increase choice for buyers and limit the chances of significant value growth. The supply and demand dynamics of the £5m+ market are similar to the wider one, but more acute, with available stock growing by more than a quarter on an annual basis. Activity remains strong in a longer-term context, suggesting robust levels of demand. New £5m+ sales instructions in April were 67.2% higher than last year, and more than double the pre-pandemic (2017-2019) April average. Transactions in April were down 3.6% on the same month a year earlier, although this is 47% above the 2017-2019 average. The year-to-date figures – a less volatile metric – show sales broadly in line with the same period last year, a change of +0.9%. Similarly, new instructions are up 30.7% on this basis. At the end of April there were 26.1% more £5m+ properties for sale than a year earlier. |
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Contact UsIf you are considering selling your property or any residential property sales advice, please contact Nicholas Jaffray by telephoning: +44 20 3091 9311 or via email at: [email protected] or visiting at: 42 Upper Berkeley Street, London, W1H 5QL. |