Westminster house prices dropped in October

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

House prices dropped by 2.6% in Westminster in October, new figures show.

The drop contributes to the longer-term trend, which has seen property prices in the area suffer a 7.8% annual decline.

The average Westminster house price in October was £898,968, Land Registry figures show – a 2.6% decrease on September.

Over the month, the picture was similar to that across London, where prices decreased 3.1%, but Westminster was lower than the 0.7% drop for the UK as a whole.

Over the last year, the average sale price of property in Westminster fell by £76,000 – putting the area 32nd among London’s 33 local authorities with price data for annual growth.

The highest annual growth in the region was in Richmond, where property prices increased on average by 5.4%, to £806,000. At the other end of the scale, properties in Hammersmith and Fulham lost 9.9% of their value, giving an average price of £716,000.

First steps on the property ladder

First-time buyers in Westminster spent an average of £813,000 on their property – £68,000 less than a year ago, and £120,000 less than in October 2018.

By comparison, former owner-occupiers paid £981,000 on average in October – 20.6% more than first-time buyers.

Property types

Owners of detached houses saw the biggest fall in property prices in Westminster in October – they dropped 4.4% in price, to £2,760,979 on average. Over the last year, prices dropped by 10.7%.

Among other types of property:

Semi-detached:

Terraced:

Flats:

How do property prices in Westminster compare?

Buyers paid 74.4% more than the average price in London (£516,000) in October for a property in Westminster. Across London, property prices are high compared to those across the UK, where the average cost is £288,000.

The most expensive properties in London – and the UK – were in Kensington and Chelsea – £1.4 million on average, and 1.5 times the price as in Westminster. Kensington and Chelsea properties cost four times the price as homes in Barking and Dagenham (£334,000 average), at the other end of the scale.

The highest property prices across the UK were in Kensington and Chelsea, at £1.4 million.

Factfile

Average property price in October

Westminster: £898,968
London:£515,504
UK: £287,782

Annual change to October

Westminster: -7.8%
London: -3.6%
UK: -1.2%

Highest and lowest annual growth in London

Richmond: +5.4%
Hammersmith and Fulham: -9.9%