House prices hit £500,000 in majority of London areas

Average home prices across the whole of Greater London hit £540,200 as of Q3 2015, up 1.6% compared with Q2 – or an annualised growth rate of 6.6% across the capital.

Out of 279 postcode districts falling within Greater London, 142 are now home to local property prices averaging at least £500,000. As such, the ‘half a million zone’ now represents 51% of the UK capital.

Across England & Wales there are a total of 157 postcode districts with average property values above half a million pounds – of which 142 lie within Greater London.

This means that comparatively, less than 1% of the rest of England & Wales have average property values over half a million pounds.

Andrew Bridges, managing director of Stirling Ackroyd, commented:

“London is increasingly another country. Within these borders, more and more territory is being claimed by home values only dreamed of by sellers in the past. Meanwhile, for buyers and for businesses – the wave is building outwards and eastwards.

“Sweeping house price averages have long been skewed by a minority of traditional super-expensive streets – but now the cost of a London home is rising more broadly. Average values for England or the UK may as well measure house prices in Peru – locally irrelevant when describing the fundamentally different and hugely complex London market.

“Travel four miles west of the West End and you’ll stand little chance as a first time buyer. But east of the cosier core of traditional London, there’s a riverside corridor of relative affordability.

“Properties along this route are now better connected than ever before – with new Overground connections still under-appreciated by other Londoners, an increasingly cycle-friendly road network, and the revolutionary impact of Crossrail imminent."