Waltham Forest house prices dropped in December

House prices dropped by 1.5% in Waltham Forest in December, new figures show.

But the drop does not reverse the longer-term trend, which has seen property prices in the area grow by 8% over the last year.

The average Waltham Forest house price in December was £510,179, Land Registry figures show – a 1.5% 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 0.4% drop for the UK as a whole.

Over the last year, the average sale price of property in Waltham Forest rose by £38,000 – putting the area 18th 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 20.8%, to £968,000. At the other end of the scale, properties in Westminster lost 13.4% of their value, giving an average price of £910,000.

The average UK house price was £294,000 in December 2022, which was £26,000 higher than 12 months earlier.

It meant prices increased by 9.8% annually in December, slowing from 10.6% annual growth in November, according to the Office for National Statistics.

First steps on the property ladder

First-time buyers in Waltham Forest spent an average of £480,000 on their property – £36,000 more than a year ago, and £60,000 more than in December 2017.

By comparison, former owner-occupiers paid £540,000 on average in December – 12.5% more than first-time buyers.

Property types

Owners of terraced houses saw the biggest fall in property prices Waltham Forest in December – they dropped 1.7% in price, to £586,452 on average. But over the last year, prices rose by 9.6%.

Among other types of property:

Detached: down 1.4% monthly; up 7.1% annually; £947,168 averageSemi-detached: down 1.5% monthly; up 8% annually; £799,544 averageFlats: down 1.3% monthly; up 5.9% annually; £381,333 average

How do property prices in Waltham Forest compare?

Buyers paid 6.1% less than the average price in London (£543,000) in December for a property in Waltham Forest. Across London, property prices are lower than those across the UK, where the average cost £294,000.

The most expensive properties in London were in Kensington and Chelsea – £1.3 million on average, and 2.5 times as much as more than in Waltham Forest. Kensington and Chelsea properties cost 3.5 times as much as homes in Barking and Dagenham (£362,000 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: £510,179London:£543,099UK: £294,329

Annual growth to December

Waltham Forest: +8%London: +6.7%UK: +9.8%

Highest and lowest annual growth in London

City of London: +20.8%Westminster: -13.4%