Greenwich borough house prices in freefall as annual falls near 10%
This month’s house price data from one of the UK’s most thorough sources of information continues to show prices in Greenwich borough falling sharply.
The monthly change was a fall of 3.2% alone – and whilst monthly data can be noisy and prone to fluctuations annual prices are a more reliable guide and also down 9.7%. That’s the fifth biggest fall of all London authorities. It sees almost £50,000 knocked off the average home in one year.
New builds
Much of the reduction is down to new-builds failing to sell with overseas buyers unable to complete after paying deposits or Help to Buy recipients realising they’ve overpaid when it comes to sell. That 20% loan from the government isn’t so good when you’ve overpaid by 20%. Many new builds – especially flats – are priced far above local levels.
Greenwich borough has seen vast numbers of new-builds in recent years which is borne out by some of the highest income to Greenwich Council of any UK authority. Other councils which top the list of building such as Newham and Tower Hamlets see similar annual falls of 9.1% and 7.5%.
Suburban Bexley sees prices stagnant but no big falls as fewer new-builds in the borough impact on prices.
Top of the list
Prices in Westminster and Kensington (and the City) top the list but are extremely variable due to massive prices resulting in one or two transactions distorting both monthly and annual figures. The report quotes a flat selling for £33 million alone.
The trend down looks likely to continue down as Brexit uncertainty continues and the world economy stutters, with Germany barely avoiding recession this week. Central banks will continue to print and throw credit out there – but to diminishing returns? It’s been the default method since 2007/8.
Good luck finding this info or this release in much of the press though. There’s a huge vested interest or in receiving ad revenue from the industry – both in local press, regional and national.
If you look at the Land Registry statistics its actually not that bad – Acadata’s methodology makes it look much worse. For example another competitor company:
The average price for property in Greenwich stood at £579,284 in February 2019. This is a rise of 0.13% in the last three months (since November 2018) and rise of 3.86% since 12 months ago. In terms of property types, flats in Greenwich sold for an average of £492,635 and terraced houses for £828,682.
Which company out of interest?
Acadata use Land Registry stats and record every property transaction in the UK. It’s better than Halifax, Nationwide, ONS, Rightmove etc
I was intrigued so had a delve. Looks like Zoopla numbers? I’ll have to delve into their methodology but previously it wasn’t as comprehensive as Land Registry (and LSL Acadata who use Land Registry).
It’s a shame LR doesn’t seem to make releases as clear and comprehensive as they used to be. I’m not a fan of ONS which is where LR seems to be dumped now. ONS seem to throw everything in the mix such as asking prices which is so prone to being skewed. See the number of homes listed at “incorrect” prices then changed shortly after.
Most of the companies mine Land Registry data to get their values – however most have their own methodologies. LR’s data is comprehensive and a lot better than it use to be. I wouldn’t mention ONS with Halifax etc, they perform to and are held to way higher standards plus they also use Land Registry data.
Acadata is simply a company mining data just like the rest. Really they are no better… You could also look at RICS notes published monthly https://www.rics.org/uk/news-insight/research/market-surveys/uk-residential-market-survey/
The top end of Greenwich’s housing market seems to suffering the most from what i’ve seen in recent weeks – but that’s probably more to do with tax changes etc that the Gov. introduced.
“That 20% loan from the government isn’t so good when you’ve overpaid by 20%”
Isn’t it though? If the goal of Help to Buy is to enable people to get onto the property ladder, then it worked regardless if the buyer “overpaid”.
As a resident of the Woolwich Riverside community, I’m seeing these apartment buildings fill up with plenty of hard working hopefuls, who have invested in this area because they believe this is, and will continue to be, a nice place to live.
So who’s to say if they’ve “overpaid”? Certainly not because of short term fluctuations on a lifetime investment.
They’ve certainly overpaid based on existing property prices compared to new builds in the vicinity and what prices would have been were it not for Help to Buy, which study after study now shows lifted prices and developer income – and buyers will pay the price when it comes to sell (and taxpayers who will share the pain).
I feel bad for hardworking people who bought new builds especially who will see massive drops should they need to sell soon. It’s not their fault government encouraged rapid house price growth to win the 2015 election.
A ladder only works when prices rise – well not when down 10% in a year anyway. On a £400k Woolwich flat that’s a hefty fall.