London house prices are shrinking at a rate not seen since the aftermath of the global financial crisis.
Flash data revealed Monday by Acadata and LSL Property Services showed that, on average, home prices in Greater London fell 2.7 percent in September when compared to the same month a year earlier — the biggest fall recorded since 2009.
Acadata and LSL said it is only the third occasion in the last ten years that the annual percentage change in Greater London house prices has sat in negative territory.
A more detailed picture of the August data set was also published.
A 0.7 percent overall fall in August marked the first negative reading since 2011 as sellers in some of the London’s more expensive boroughs, such as Westminster, Hammersmith, and Wandsworth, were forced to cut prices.
Nine Elms, a huge new development area that will be home to Apple’s new London campus, falls within the Wandsworth borough.
Prices in the City of Westminster borough showed an annual decline in August of 14.9 percent, equaling an average sale price of £1.35 million ($1.8 mn).
The average cost of a house in Kensington and Chelsea, London’s most expensive borough, fell by a sharp 5 percent in August to an average of £1.7 million. The area was still 0.5 percent more expensive than in August 2016.
While prices in London and southeast England are falling on average, the rest of England and Wales recorded price growth of 3.3 percent in September year-on-year.
Acadata and LSL said the average price of a house in England and Wales now stands at £297,287, the same level as seen in November 2016.