Merton house prices dropped slightly in November

House prices dropped slightly, by 0.8%, in Merton in November, new figures show.

But the drop does not reverse the longer-term trend, which has seen property prices in the area grow by 2.3% over the last year.

The average Merton house price in November was £582,370, Land Registry figures show – a 0.8% decrease on October.

Over the month, the picture was different to that across London, where prices increased 0.1%, and Merton was lower than the 0.3% drop for the UK as a whole.

Over the last year, the average sale price of property in Merton rose by £13,000 – putting the area 28th among London’s 33 local authorities with price data for annual growth.

The highest annual growth in the region was in City of London, where property prices increased on average by 18.5%, to £936,000. At the other end of the scale, properties in Kensington and Chelsea lost 6.3% of their value, giving an average price of £1,350,000.

The average UK house price edged down to £295,000 in November 2022, from the previous month's record high of £296,000.

Property prices increased by 10.3% in the year to November, slowing from 12.4% in October.

Nathan Emerson, CEO of Propertymark, which represents estate agents, said: "In November, our agents reported a market that was on the cusp of seeing purchasing power handed back to buyers which was a trend we hadn’t seen in months."

And Roger Evans, director of home finance distribution at Gatehouse Bank, said: “The property market is slowly becoming more favourable for buyers in some areas as rates stabilise a little following the turbulence of 2022.”

First steps on the property ladder

First-time buyers in Merton spent an average of £496,400 on their property – £9,900 more than a year ago, and £39,400 more than in November 2017.

By comparison, former owner-occupiers paid £673,300 on average in November – 35.6% more than first-time buyers.

Property types

Owners of detached houses saw the biggest fall in property prices Merton in November – they dropped 1.5% in price, to £1,764,389 on average. But over the last year, prices rose by 0.9%.

Among other types of property:

Semi-detached: down 0.8% monthly; up 3.1% annually; £927,896 averageTerraced: down 0.6% monthly; up 4.3% annually; £644,486 averageFlats: down 1% monthly; down 0.3% annually; £405,028 average

How do property prices in Merton compare?

Buyers paid 7.4% more than the average price in London (£542,000) in November for a property in Merton. Across London, property prices are higher than those across the UK, where the average cost £295,000.

The most expensive properties in London were in Kensington and Chelsea – £1.3 million on average, and 2.3 times as much as more than in Merton. Kensington and Chelsea properties cost 3.8 times as much as homes in Barking and Dagenham (£360,000 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 November

Merton: £582,370London:£542,311UK: £294,910

Annual growth to November

Merton: +2.3%London: +6.3%UK: +10.3%

Highest and lowest annual growth in London

City of London: +18.5%Kensington and Chelsea: -6.3%