London sales and prices continue to outperform the rest of the UK

Residential property sales in London are not seeing a seasonal let up yet with the latest transaction figures up 56% year on year compared to a UK average of 32%.

The data from Sequence, owners of 300 estate agents branches including Barnard Marcus, William H Brown and Fox & Sons, also shows that in London sales were up 2% month on month in November compared with October while nationally they increased by 1%.

Average UK prices are up 9% annually taking the price of a home to £209,443. Prices did not change month on month. While in London prices have increased by 15% year on year, taking the average price of a home in the city to £425,486 and have increased by 5% month on month.

The report points out that competition for property remains fierce, with almost seven new buyers for every new instruction, the highest level for three years. Also, mortgage applications continue to rise, up 40% annually and 3% on month, with first time buyer applications up 49% annually.

‘The current property market appears to show no signs of slowing as we approach Christmas, with activity levels and house prices remaining buoyant. Looking at the annual rate of change it becomes clear that 2013 is a very different market to that of last year, with sales transactions levels across the UK up 32% and house prices up 9%,’ said David Plumtree, chief executive at Sequence.

‘Yet again London is leading the way, with prices up 5% on month and 15% annually. These price rises are not deterring buyers, as sales transactions continue to rise at a fast pace, up 56% annually and 2% on month,’ he explained.

He pointed out that the primary reason for the heightened activity levels is an increasing demand for home ownership across the demographic spectrum. ‘There has been a constant flow of new buyers for the last four months, increasing 1% in November and up 36% annually,’ said Plumtree.

‘This, combined with a slowdown in the supply of property coming onto the market, down 14% month on month, has resulted in 6.9 buyers registering to buy every new instruction. In London this is even more acute, with 14 buyers chasing every new instruction,’ he added.

He explained that the volume of offers and sales have moved almost in tandem again this month, a sign of a healthy property market where sensible offers are being accepted by realistic buyers. The number of offers remained flat but were up 24% annually, and the number of sales increased by 1% but were up 36% annually. This means that the ratio remained constant at 1.8 offers for every sale.

In London the picture is much the same with mirrored growth of 2% for both offers and sales, resulting in an unchanged ratio of 2.7 offers to every property sale.

But there are considerable regional variations in the property market. In Scotland average prices have fallen by 1.94% month on month but they are up 5.53% year on year, taking the average price to £114,359. In the North East prices were up 0.75% monthly and 5.3% annually to an average of £134,507. The North West, the Midlands and East Anglia also saw monthly price falls, down 1.18%, 4.5% and 1.49% respectively. But annual prices are up 1.5%, 4.92% and 3.94%, respectively, taking average prices to £139,588, £134,475 and £171,523.

In Wales prices were up 2.35% monthly and 8.44% annually to take the average price of a home to £173,402. In the South West and South East monthly prices rose marginally by 0.21% and 0.76%. On an annual basis they were up 6.22% in the South West to an average of £186,876 and in the South East by 1.18% to an average of £234,871.