Greenwich house prices: Data shows sharp falls even before coronavirus
Latest house price data shows that annual house prices fell 4.5 per cent in Greenwich borough even before mass lock downs and job losses begun due to the coronavirus.
The fall knocked £22,000 off the average price over the past 12 months. On a monthly basis prices were down 0.4 per cent before Covid-19 saw widespread closures.
The so-called Boris Bounce appeared to be based more upon sentiment than hard data as the wider economy saw zero GDP growth in January before coronavirus struck. Retail data was also the lowest for some time, with a fall of 0.6 per cent from December 2019 to February 2020 suggesting the economy was in poor shape even before the current unprecedented situation of almost complete lockdown.
This is interesting as many politicians will no doubt try to claim all was rosy before current events. Data suggests otherwise.
As for the future, well, all bets are off. A historic downturn is predicted by economists surpassing the Wall Street crash and Credit Crunch. Today there are predictions of a 15 per cent fall in GDP in Q2. Earlier today two more big chains in Carluccios and Bright House collapsed into administration.
Hopefully this will bring the cost of homes down to a more affordable levels for local people to be able to afford them. As mosst properies are out of the reach for many local residents to purchase or privately rent.
We need to get the homes sold or rented out rather than have them standing empty for years.
We do need more affordable homes in the Borough of Greenwich,
Property prices do need to fall so more people will be able to afford to buy or rent them.Sadly most people now cannot afford to save for the deposits on modest incomes.