Despite a quiet year so far, the prime London sales market has shown some slight signs of recovery in June 2023, according to independent property analysts, LonRes.
Achieved prices were 0.6% higher than the same period last year, marking the first increase since November 2022.
However, transactions fell by 11.8% despite values and transactions seeing increases of 4.6% and 9.0% respectively when compared to pre-pandemic levels of June 2017-19.
Sales activity in the £5m+ market has also seen a decrease compared to June last year by 14%, but this remains high compared to pre-pandemic levels, with transactions being over 30% higher. Similarly, new instructions for the £5m+ market have seen an increase of 24% compared to last year, being 72% above pre-pandemic averages.
The lettings market in June continued to show a trend of falling supply and rising rents, following its post-pandemic patterns.
Annual rental growth was high, at 8.0% for June, pushing rents to nearly 28% above the pre-pandemic average.
Demand is so strong that many properties are being let without being listed, leading to an annual fall of 30% in lets agreed and a 0.9% drop in new instructions.
The first half of the year has seen transaction volumes down by around 20% across all prime London areas when compared to a year ago.
However, a contrast is seen in the longer-term comparison, with significantly higher activity in the £5m+ market where sales are up by 17.3% compared to the H1 average for 2017-19.
Reflecting on these findings, Nick Gregori, head of research at LonRes, said: “At the halfway point of 2023 the prime London sales market remains mixed.
“Sales activity is down on last year but broadly in line with typical pre-pandemic years. Buyers are still out there and they are keeping the market moving and underpinning values – at least for now.”
