Waltham Forest house prices crashed 5.5% in December

House prices crashed by 5.5% in Waltham Forest in December, new figures show.

The large drop contributes to the longer-term trend, which has seen property prices in the area suffer a 9% annual decline.

The average Waltham Forest house price in December was £468,598, Land Registry figures show – a 5.5% decrease on November.

Over the month, the picture was different to that across London, where prices remained static, and Waltham Forest was lower than the 0.1% rise for the UK as a whole.

Over the last year, the average sale price of property in Waltham Forest fell by £46,000 – putting the area 29th 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 3%, to £758,000. At the other end of the scale, properties in City of London lost 17.8% of their value, giving an average price of £802,000.

First steps on the property ladder

First-time buyers in Waltham Forest spent an average of £442,000 on their property – £43,000 less than a year ago, but £23,000 more than in December 2018.

By comparison, former owner-occupiers paid £495,000 on average in December – 12% more than first-time buyers.

Property types

Owners of detached houses saw the biggest fall in property prices in Waltham Forest in December – they dropped 6% in price, to £866,282 on average. Over the last year, prices dropped by 8.8%.

Among other types of property:

How do property prices in Waltham Forest compare?

Buyers paid 7.8% less than the average price in London (£508,000) in December for a property in Waltham Forest. Across London, property prices are high compared to those across the UK, where the average cost is £285,000.

The most expensive properties in London were in Kensington and Chelsea – £1.1 million on average, and 2.4 times the price as in Waltham Forest. Kensington and Chelsea properties cost 3.3 times the price as homes in Barking and Dagenham (£340,000 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 December

• Waltham Forest: £468,598
• London:£508,037
• UK: £284,691

Annual change to December

• Waltham Forest: -9%
• London: -4.8%
• UK: -1.4%

Highest and lowest annual growth in London

• Richmond: +3%
• City of London: -17.8%