London house price growth slips to five-year low as luxury sector slumps

Kensington and Chelsea led declines among the capital’s most expensive areas

Kensington and Chelsea, the capital’s costliest borough with an average property price of about £2m, led the declines with a 2.6 per cent drop

London home values grew at their slowest annual rate in almost five years in February as values in the capital’s most expensive boroughs including Camden and Kensington and Chelsea fell, according to Acadata and LSL Property Services.

Prices across the city rose just 0.1 per cent on the month to an average £606,780, the groups said in a report on Tuesday. That left the annual gain at 1.5 per cent, the weakest reading since April 2012.

The data adds to evidence that London’s housing market is increasingly split along value lines, with the capital’s most expensive areas posting declines and the lowest-priced gaining. In February, the city’s top 11 boroughs by value saw prices fall by an average of 0.5 per cent on the month, while the least expensive 11 recorded a 0.4 per cent increase, Acadata and LSL said.

Kensington and Chelsea, the capital’s costliest borough with an average property price of about £2m, led the declines with a 2.6 per cent drop as the tentative recovery at the top-end of the London market “appears to have fizzled out”, the report said.

According to national data for March, prices in England and Wales rose 0.5 per cent from February to an average of £301,280, 3.3 per cent higher than a year earlier, the report showed.

Bloomberg