London house prices: Havering records biggest growth as rising demand continues to push prices up in the capital's outer boroughs

Havering sees the biggest annual increase in asking prices, while Camden suffers the biggest drop.
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Jess Denham27 December 2016

East London’s Barking and Dagenham, Bexley, Newham and Havering are the only London boroughs where the average home still sells for less than £400,000, but rising demand in the most affordable boroughs is leading to rapid house price growth.

Havering in the south east has enjoyed the biggest annual increase, with the average house price soaring by over £40,000 to an average of £392,000 – more than £200,000 cheaper than the London average of £616,000. Buyers have been drawn by the promise of a new Crossrail station in its main town of Romford by the end of 2018, with costs expected to increase further once it opens.

Property website Rightmove’s latest House Price Index shows that priced-out buyers are widening their net in a bid to find a bargain, with increased demand pushing prices up on the outer edges of the capital.

Meanwhile, sharp drops in asking prices continue to impact the prime London market. Camden in the north suffered the biggest annual fall of almost 18 per cent, with houses selling for £994,000 on average, while prices also fell by more than 5.5 per cent in west London’s Hammersmith and Fulham, Wandsworth and Kingston. Houses in those boroughs now sell for £1.03 million, £757,000 and £598,000 on average respectively.

The borough of Kensington and Chelsea remains the most expensive, despite a year-on-year price drop of nearly 15 per cent, with the average home setting back buyers a whopping £2.13 million. Family homes in the borough are currently selling for upwards of £26 million on Rightmove.

Growing demand for boroughs beyond Zone 2 is a result of the growing affordability gap due to years of house prices rising faster than wages.

Rightmove’s co-founder Miles Shipside says: “London’s desperate need for affordable housing has moved to outer London and we forecast that will lead to further modest price growth in 2017.”

Uncertainty over Brexit and stamp duty changes has stalled the pace of growth across London, with this month's city-wide drop of 4.3 per cent the largest in December for six years, indicating ongoing market weakness.

However, a plateau is to be expected in places such as Greenwich, Hackney and Newham after double-digit growth in 2015.

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