City of London house prices dropped in April

General view of estate agents signs outside a block of flats in Basingstoke, Hampshire.

House prices dropped by 1% in City of London in April, new figures show.

But the drop does not reverse the longer-term trend, which has seen property prices in the area grow by 9.1% over the last year.

The average City of London house price in April was £885,581, Land Registry figures show – a 1% decrease on March.

Over the month, the picture was different to that across London, where prices increased 2.1%, and City of London was lower than the 0.5% rise for the UK as a whole.

Over the last year, the average sale price of property in City of London rose by £74,000 – putting the area second among London’s 33 local authorities with price data for annual growth.

The highest annual growth in the region was in Tower Hamlets, where property prices increased on average by 10%, to £511,000. At the other end of the scale, properties in Kensington and Chelsea lost 15.8% of their value, giving an average price of £1,276,000.

First steps on the property ladder

First-time buyers in City of London spent an average of £907,000 on their property – £74,000 more than a year ago, and £159,000 more than in April 2018.

By comparison, former owner-occupiers paid £875,000 on average in April – 3.5% more than first-time buyers.

How do property prices in City of London compare?

Buyers paid 65.9% more than the average price in London (£534,000) in April for a property in City of London. Across London, property prices are high compared to those across the UK, where the average cost £286,000.

The most expensive properties in London were in Kensington and Chelsea – £1.3 million on average, and 1.4 times the price as in City of London. Kensington and Chelsea properties cost 3.6 times the price as homes in Barking and Dagenham (£351,000 average), at the other end of the scale.

The highest property prices across the UK were in Kensington and Chelsea.

Factfile

Average property price in April

City of London: £885,581
London:£533,687
UK: £286,489

Annual growth to April

City of London: +9.1%
London: +2.4%
UK: +3.5%

Highest and lowest annual growth in London

Tower Hamlets: +10%
Kensington and Chelsea: -15.8%