Local property prices fall from peak levels

The latest official figures are indicating that local property prices have fallen from the peak seen during the Summer of 2010.

The average price of a home sold in W4 in November 2010 was £621,224. This compares to £669,548 for the period July-September 2010.

According to the Land Registry, London property prices are up by 6.8% in November compared to last year. This is the slowest annual rise in 2010 but remains the highest level in the country.

This brings the average property price in London to £341,009, in comparison to the figure for England and Wales, which is £164,773.

"The trouble with average prices is that, like all statistics, they are relatively meaningless. It only takes the sale of one house on the Mall, for example, for the average price to shoot up dramatically, skewing the figures," says Winkworth's Andrew Dunsford.

"It is too soon to tell what is happening locally. The true picture will start to emerge after the 1st May bank holiday which is when we expect people who have been toying with moving to decide to test the market - and others to start thinking of doing so."

OliverFinn's Christian Harper said: ""Market activity has fallen in 2011. Less houses are being sold as less buyers are looking. This will naturally have a detrimental impact on pricing. Factually 283 properties have come onto the market in W4 since February 1st 2011. Up to now only 27 have actually gone under offer. What are the remaining 256 clients going to do to sell their property? Reduce the price or take the property off the market which will fuel this small drop in pricing.

"If activity continues to fall, prices will fall as clients lower prices to become more competitive."

For the country as a whole November's data shows a fall of 0.6%. This is the third consecutive month in which prices have fallen. The annual house price growth rate has continued to decline for the sixth month in a row, with an increase of 2.2%. This is the smallest growth seen in 12 months.

Nationwide's House Price index for December which is based on offer prices rather than actual sales like the Land Registry did show an increase.

Martin Gahbauer, Nationwide's Chief Economist, said, "There is little evidence to suggest that house price declines are likely to accelerate in the months ahead. Much of the weakness in property values since the Spring has been driven by a return of sellers to the market, following unusually low levels of property for sale in 2009 and early 2010. However, there is little to indicate that these sellers need to achieve a sale urgently for financial or economic reasons, which means that the downward pressure on house prices is only modest."

The latest reported sales are given in the table below.

The numbers below are subject to revision as is it usual that some properties are added late to the Land Registry's database.

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November 2010 Property Sales in Chiswick

* Some properties excluded from this table at owners' request

Property sales in October 2010

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Source: Land Registry

April 18, 2011