Sellers urged to be ‘more realistic’ as price and sales slowdown

The price and sales slowdown in London has started to spread further across the south of England, Zoopla has warned.

Analysis by the portal – which defines southern England as the south-east, south-west and east of England – found that more than a third (36%) of homes in this area experienced annual house price falls as of April.

The average house price for the region as a whole stands at £323,910, up 0.6% marginally, but individual towns and cities have seen drops in value of as much as 2.3%.

The analysis, based on Hometrack data, found it was the higher value areas in the London commuter belt that have been hit the worst.

For example, in the south-east region, the weakest annual growth was in the likes of Woking (-2.3%), Epsom (-2.3%), Basingstoke (-1.9%) and Maidenhead (-1.6%).

In contrast, Dover (+3.4%), Hastings (+2.9%) and Shepway (+2.3%) on the coast, all lower value and less commutable areas, performed well.

Zoopla also found sales volumes have declined by 11% and 25% respectively in southern England and London since 2014, but said pricing in the capital was now falling more in line with buyer expectations.

Richard Donnell, research and insight director at Zoopla, said: “London is a large global city whose influence on the demand for housing is not solely limited to the 33 London boroughs.

“The current slowdown in southern England which has extended out from London is a result of weaker housing demand after a period of high price rises.

“Sales volumes are down as buyers respond to multiple tax changes, new mortgage regulations and increased affordability pressures.

“However, we do not expect the extent of price falls to be as pronounced or prolonged as in London as prices overshot by a lesser amount in our view.

“For home owners entering the market the key to securing a sale is to be realistic on pricing based on the profile of demand for homes in the local market.

“Our analysis shows how trends vary within regions and all local markets have their differences.

“Would-be sellers considering selling should speak to a good local agent with their finger on the pulse of the local market to get a true view of demand and the right price to achieve a sale as market conditions look set to remain challenging over the rest of 2019.”