This compares to continued deteriorating values in the Midlands and North of England, where house prices are set to fall by 2% during 2011.
‘London is being supported by international capital and year end bonus money. Foreign capital has been flowing into London’s residential market since Sterling started to weaken in the second half of 2008,’ said James Thomas, head of residential investment and development at Jones Lang LaSalle.
‘This has been bolstered even further since the start of the year as geopolitical unrest across Africa and the Middle East has intensified, illustrating how London is perceived to be a safe haven for investment. Likewise, property market cooling measures across markets in Asia have served to further concentrate outward investment on central London,’ he added.
As price growth in regional markets outside London and the south of the UK continues to decline, this two tier market shows no sign of synchronising, and the dynamics and development of these markets remain polarised. More than a dozen regional centres rely on the public sector for more than one third of all employment; whereas London’s dependence is closer to one fifth, the JLLS report indicates.
Looking at the UK housing market more generally, weak lending and pressure on limited disposable income continues to dissuade would be domestic buyers, it adds. Transaction levels are down by more than one-quarter against the long term average.
Throughout 2011 Jones Lang LaSalle expects volumes and price growth to remain flat, with more risk on the downside. ‘The market remains highly asset specific and price sensitive. There are equity rich investors looking to enter the market. However, the polarisation between prime assets and mainstream housing remains stark,’ explained Thomas.
‘Most housing market stakeholders remain risk averse: speculative, debt dependent schemes in fringe locations are, on the whole, stagnant. Neither banks nor buyers are of the view that this segment of the market will recover quickly,’ he added.
According to Rob Bruce, head of residential research at Jones Lang LaSalle, although seasonally the start of the year is typically a busy time across the residential sector, this January new buyer enquiries and new instructions continued to trend down.
'As a result of weakening demand, the average time on the market has risen by more than two weeks during the last nine months, according to Hometrack. Similarly, with a lack of competition for properties, the gap between asking price and achieved price is growing. On average 91.9% of the asking price is being achieved,’ he said.
