House prices set to drop by 10%

House prices in some boom areas are set to drop by as much as 10 per cent, experts are warning.

Of the 25 postcodes which market information company Experian believes are most at risk of depreciating, nine are in London, and all except five are in the South-East.

A 10 per cent drop would mean that the average house price in West Kensington would fall by almost £70,000, while in Paddington - where the average price is £1,173,784 - the fall would be more than £117,000.

The problems are most likely to happen in areas where prices have risen quickly. The Nine Elms area, where house prices have more than doubled since 1995, is another area seriously at risk along with Barnes, Battersea, Camden, Cricklewood, Muswell Hill and Bow.