House sales agreed in London are up 16 per cent annually, reports Zoopla, more than twice that of the UK average, with only the North East of England seeing a high number of sales (17 per cent).
This is due to increased buyer confidence due to new mortgage rates and more realistic pricing from sellers said the property portal in its latest House Price Index.
The average London house price is now £534,600, over twice that of the national average of £263,600.
While house prices in London are still down 0.8 per cent since last year, house price inflation is rebounding faster in the capital that the rest of the country due to increased demand and restricted supply, said Zoopla.
The supply of new homes coming up for for sale in the capital has only increased by seven per cent, compared to 21 per cent in the rest of the UK.
House prices in London fell sharply last year as mortgage rates went up sharply in response to the Bank of England raising the base rate of interest to 5.25 per cent in an attempt to quell inflation.
With the market predicting the Bank will eventually drop, mortgages have been offered at cheaper rates since the start of 2024.
Zoopla reported that confidence had returned to the UK property market, with a fifth more homes for sale now than there were this time last year.
The property portal forecast that there will be 10 per cent more homes sold in 2024 than in 2023.
“The housing market has proved very resilient to higher mortgage rates and cost of living pressures,” said Richard Donnell, executive director of research at Zoopla.
“More sales and more sellers shows growing confidence amongst households and evidence that 4-5 per cent mortgage rates are not a barrier to improving market conditions”
Asking price reductions of over five per cent are still most frequent in the South and South East of England.
Rightmove also reported increased market activity in their most recent House Price Index, which saw London sellers increase asking prices by £18,000 in February.
