Prime Central London prices rise

House prices in Prime Central London rose by 0.4% in April, says the latest report from Knight Frank, bringing the annual price change to -22.7%. The recovery was led by Chelsea, Kensington and Mayfair where prices rose by over 1% this month, Knight Frank says.

The price band which has recovered best is the sub-£1m bracket which saw a recovery of 1.6% for the month, while the weakest price band is now at the top of the market in the £10m+ range, which started to fall last and saw a £2.2% fall in April.

Liam Bailey, Head of Knight Frank’s residential research department commented: ‘House price growth of 0.4% in central London's exclusive postcodes reflects a growing trend towards stronger market conditions which has been developing since the turn of the year.

‘Since January, viewing levels and applicant volumes have been steadily rising - and in April were up by 45% and 32% year-on-year. Allied to these positive figures was a decline in the rate of price falls from the Q4 monthly average of around 3% to 1.5% and 1.6% in February and March respectively. Our view is that price falls are almost at an end for the central London market - however we should not be surprised to see some negative monthly results through the year. The most significant issue remains sales volumes - which have risen over the past three months on a year-on-year basis by 28% - but which are likely to be constrained by a lack of stock over the next three to six months.

James Pace, head of Knight Frank Chelsea, added: ‘Recently we have seen a change of attitude in buyers with them losing the fear factor about prices falling considerably further and this has resulted in us agreeing more sales in the last 6 weeks than in the previous 6 months…. We are also seeing some buyers taking the opportunity to upgrade. As a result, sensibly priced property is receiving multiple bids and stock levels are reducing and we foresee this trend continuing into the early summer.’

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