Merton house prices dropped slightly in September

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

House prices dropped slightly, by 0.1%, in Merton in September, new figures show.

But the drop does not reverse the longer-term trend, which has seen property prices in the area grow by 0.6% over the last year.

The average Merton house price in September was £587,927, Land Registry figures show – a 0.1% decrease on August.

Over the month, the picture was similar to that across London, where prices decreased 0.3%, and Merton was above the 0.5% drop for the UK as a whole.

Over the last year, the average sale price of property in Merton rose by £3,500 – putting the area ninth 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 6.4%, to £509,000. At the other end of the scale, properties in Kensington and Chelsea lost 20.6% of their value, giving an average price of £1,203,000.

First steps on the property ladder

First-time buyers in Merton spent an average of £501,100 on their property – £4,000 more than a year ago, and £46,700 more than in September 2018.

By comparison, former owner-occupiers paid £679,800 on average in September – 35.7% more than first-time buyers.

Property types

Owners of detached houses saw the biggest fall in property prices in Merton in September – they dropped 1.3% in price, to £1,806,721 on average. But over the last year, prices rose by 0.9%.

Among other types of property:

Semi-detached:

Terraced:

Flats:

How do property prices in Merton compare?

Buyers paid 9.4% more than the average price in London (£537,000) in September for a property in Merton. Across London, property prices are high compared to those across the UK, where the average cost is £291,000.

The most expensive properties in London were in Kensington and Chelsea – £1.2 million on average, and twice the price as in Merton. Kensington and Chelsea properties cost 3.5 times the price as homes in Barking and Dagenham (£346,000 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 September

Merton: £587,927
London:£537,424
UK: £291,385

Annual change to September

Merton: +0.6%
London: -1.1%
UK: -0.1%

Highest and lowest annual growth in London

Tower Hamlets: +6.4%
Kensington and Chelsea: -20.6%