When it rains, it pours. Estate agent Savills predicts that the mainstream London housing market will suffer the most acute fall in prices out of all regions in 2023. That’s despite properties in the city enjoying the more modest end of price growth since the pandemic.
This is largely due to the impact of higher interest rates on mortgages. London and the South-East contain the biggest gap between incomes and house prices of any part of the country. Indeed, mortgage affordability is already a stretch (or out of reach) for millions. And with the Bank of England raising rates again today, it is only set to get tougher, as homeowners on a typical £300,000 tracker mortgage face paying over £400 a month more than a year ago.
