The average price in London is expected to fall 0.5 per cent this year
UK inflation will outstrip gains in house prices this year and next, particularly in the capital, as uncertainty over Brexit and weak consumer spending power hits demand, a Reuters poll found on Friday.
According to the latest quarterly Reuters poll of 33 housing market specialists, taken in the past week, property prices will rise 2.0 per cent this year, much slower than the predicted 2.5 per cent rise in general costs in the economy.
In London – long the hotbed for foreign investors behind a decade of skyrocketing prices – the difference will be even starker: the average price is expected to fall 0.5 per cent this year.
Next year, house prices will rise 0.9 per cent in London and 2.0 nationally, still both below the 2.1 per cent expected inflation rate. In 2020, London prices will increase 2.0 per cent and by 2.3 per cent nationally.
“A significant effect of Brexit is subdued investment confidence,” said Rod Lockhart at online mortgage lender LendInvest.
“Would-be sellers are holding onto assets for longer and buyers are being a little more diligent before committing to significant expenditures, all this against a backdrop of inflation-surpassing wage growth.”
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/news/brexit-london-house-prices-property-boom-a8224661.html