Westminster house prices increased slightly in August

House prices increased slightly, by 0.5%, in Westminster in August, new figures show.

But the rise does not reverse the longer-term trend, which has seen property prices in the area suffer a 6.4% annual decline.

The average Westminster house price in August was £964,079, Land Registry figures show – a 0.5% increase on July.

Over the month, the picture was similar to that across London, where prices increased 0.9%, and Westminster was lower than the 0.9% rise for the UK as a whole.

Over the last year, the average sale price of property in Westminster fell by £66,000 – 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 Harrow, where property prices increased on average by 15.9%, to £556,000. At the other end of the scale, properties in City of London lost 11.6% of their value, giving an average price of £810,000.

An imbalance between supply and demand for properties saw house prices climb across the UK throughout the pandemic.

But experts say expectations have changed significantly in recent weeks amid mortgage rate rises, with the likelihood of a dampening effect on house price growth.

According to figures from Moneyfacts.co.uk On Wednesday, the average two-year fixed-rate mortgage on the market has a rate of 6.52% and the average five-year fix is at 6.36%.

There are around 900 fewer mortgage products available than there were on the day of the mini-budget in September.

Chris Druce, senior research analyst at Knight Frank, said: “Current activity in the housing market is being shaped by mortgage status.

“Those that can are pushing on and securing deals ahead of further increases, while others have paused plans to digest events.

“With affordability set to be a growing barrier for many homebuyers in the coming months, we forecast house price growth will slow from here, with price falls in 2023.”

First steps on the property ladder

First-time buyers in Westminster spent an average of £875,000 on their property – £58,000 less than a year ago, and £69,000 less than in August 2017.

By comparison, former owner-occupiers paid £1,047,000 on average in August – 19.7% more than first-time buyers.

Property types

Owners of flats saw the biggest rise in property prices in Westminster in August – they increased 0.6%, to £898,365 on average. Over the last year, prices dropped by 6.5%.

Among other types of property:

Detached: down 0.4% monthly; down 6.9% annually; £2,964,389 averageSemi-detached: down 1.1% monthly; down 6.8% annually; £2,538,654 averageTerraced: down 0.1% monthly; down 5.5% annually; £1,693,858 average

How do property prices in Westminster compare?

Buyers paid 74.4% more than the average price in London (£553,000) in August for a property in Westminster. Across London, property prices are high compared to those across the UK, where the average cost £296,000.

The most expensive properties in London were in Kensington and Chelsea – £1.3 million on average, and 1.4 times as much as more than in Westminster. Kensington and Chelsea properties cost 3.8 times as much as homes in Barking and Dagenham (£354,000 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 August

Westminster: £964,079London:£552,755UK: £295,903

Annual change to August

Westminster: -6.4%London: +8.3%UK: +13.6%

Highest and lowest annual growth in London

Harrow: +15.9%City of London: -11.6%