Anyone looking to sell a property in London will welcome news that the capital is bucking the national trend of falling house prices. According to a study from the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors (RICS), the city’s popularity with foreign buyers is keeping the property market buoyant.
Some 40 per cent of surveyors reported that house prices were rising rather than falling and 14 per cent more surveyors expect prices to rise in the coming three months, than fall. These figures are in sharp contrast to the rest of the UK, as no other region reported rising property prices.
RICS global residential director, Peter Bolton King, explained that London house prices are, essentially, flat at the moment, but that they could rise amid a more positive outlook: “There is certainly some optimism creeping back into the housing market, and it is encouraging to see an increase in potential buyers across parts of the country where the market has particularly suffered in recent years.”
However, Mr Bolton King said anyone looking to buy a property in London for the first time could find the market very expensive. “There is still a long way to go and the long-standing barriers to home ownership are still very much a problem for the likes of first-time buyers,” he added.