Luxury London house prices recover to rise 4.3 per cent in the second quarter
LUXURY London house prices have recorded their first quarterly growth since beginning to slide from the peak of September 2007, according to the latest quarterly research from property group Savills.
The report found prime central London house prices rose 4.3 per cent during the past three months – effectively wiping out the falls seen in the first quarter. Savills said pent up demand from buyers had finally fed through into a market that was increasingly short of quality housing stock. “By any measure, this is a significant quarterly growth figure and the beginning of some price stability, consistent with a market that could bump along the bottom without showing sustained growth until 2010”, says Yolande Barnes, head of residential research at Savills.
The report found that, while there has been little change in the economic fundamentals during the first half of 2009, sentiment among house buyers has improved markedly in the second quarter. Earlier this year many househunters waited to see if the market had hit bottom before buying.