Agents remain confident that fall is only temporary

Prices in the SW15 post code area have fallen according to the latest official figures. The average is down 9.7% in the fourth quarter of 2013 compared with previous three months. However the average price of £616,833 is still the second highest on record and up by 18.2% compared with the same period last year.

Of the 315 properties sold, ten properties were sold with a sales tag of over the £2 million mark, and twenty four achieved a sales price between £1 million - £2 million.

Westmead, Roehampton

Turnover in the local area has increased sharply with the number of homes sold up by more than 50% compared with the same period last year.

Local agent Allan Fuller commented on the statistics: "The level of activity in the property market has continued to surge ahead, an apparent drop is only due to fewer transactions at the top end of the market. Locally for us looking at like for like properties that we have sold we have seen large increases of upwards of 30% over the last two years. This is especially true in the market for flats and houses of up to £2 million. The figures showing more transactions overall is also borne out by my office selling more than twice the amount of property in 2013 compared to 2012."

Allan continued: " 'Will prices stop rising and is this a bubble that will burst?' This is the question I keep being asked. Property prices drop and hold back during a recession.  Now as we emerge from the recession they have caught up to where they would have been if there had been steady growth. Long term pent up demand  is being released as many more first time buyers are deciding now is the time to get in to ownership, especially with good mortgage deals available. The rate of acceleration in values will slow naturally at some point  but unless there was to be a massive slip in the recovery  I cannot see values falling back, as always in the UK  we all still want to own our home, and I cannot see that ever changing."

The most expensive house sold during the period was in Westmead, Roehampton costing £4,066,500. The six bedroom detached house was originally put on the market for £5,950,000 - Allan Fuller said: "It shows that even in such an active market if the price asked is just too high then selling will take longer, and eventually the vendor obviously decided to come down and take a lower offer, it must also be borne in mind that over £2 million the Stamp Duty Tax is 7%, so even at the lower price  the purchaser had to pay £284,655 to the revenue. That’s still enough to buy for a small flat localy!"

The December data from Land Registry's House Price Index shows that London remains the best performing property market in England and Wales. The average price of a home in the capital rose by 11.2% over the year to £403,972.

For the country as a whole prices rose by 4.4% which takes the average property value in England and Wales to £167,353. Repossession volumes decreased by 28 per cent in July 2013 to 1,187 compared with 1,645 in July 2012.

The most up-to-date figures available show that during October 2013 the number of completed house sales in England & Wales increased by 21 per cent to 71,929 compared with 59,213 in October 2012. The number of properties sold in England and Wales for over £1 million in October 2013 increased by 40 per cent to 913 from 651 in October 2012.

The number of properties sold in England and Wales for over £1 million in July 2013 increased by 34 per cent to 1,143 from 852 in July 2012.

Copyright notice: All figures in this article are based on data released by the Land Registry. The numbers are derived from analysis performed by PutneySW15.com. Any use of these numbers should jointly attribute the Land Registry and PutneySW15.com.

February 19, 2014