London's Luxury Market Takes A Hit

London's luxury market takes a hit in recent times and opulent areas in the capital - think Belgravia and Kensington, with their huge detached properties and cavernous basements - have seen marked decreases in housing prices in the last few months. Where the average detached house prices were at an all-time high in September 2017 at £916,156*, this has fallen by £20,855 in the space of seven months.

Kensington and Chelsea is among the most expensive areas in London. In April 2018, it saw a decrease of 1.7% year-on-year. This may not seem like a huge amount, but when you consider the average detached property price in the area was £3,597,728 in April 2017, it's a fall of £60,699 inside a year and clearly of some significance as to why London's luxury market takes a hit.

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The graph shows that the house prices are not at their all-time low since July 2017, as November 2017 saw the lowest average price in the last nine months of £894,206 across the whole of London. It is clear from this that the average price is decreasing again.

This means that the demand for high end properties is lower than for previous years. You generally need to be from the affluent/professional classes to be in the market for these kinds of dwellings so is London becoming less appealing for the affluent?

The trend overall in London at present is one of a levelling out in price. It is detached houses and flats that are counteracting any increase in property prices of semi-detached and terrace houses.

The UK's capital is a cornucopia of all housing styles. Detached houses tend to be the grand properties on the higher end of the market in areas such as Kensington, Hampstead and St John’s Wood. Many of these are stately Victorian and Edwardian homes that have been well preserved.

Regency architecture (houses built in the Georgian era between 1800 and 1830) can be found in many places in London. These tend to be the rows of white terrace houses of a royal appearance that are common in Mayfair, Pimlico with perhaps the most notable example being Regent’s Park Crescent.

Flats come in all shapes and sizes in London. One flat in the Knightsbridge Apartments was sold for £90 million in 2017, however in suburban areas flats can be found for as low as £80,000 if you are purchasing using shared ownership.

New properties in London are constantly popping up with apartment blocks such as Leven Wharf in Aberfeldy Village and London Dock available for investment.

In London, the Help to Buy scheme is different from that of the rest of the country. The equity loan borrowed can be up to 40% of the property cost in London, rather than 20%. The scheme is available for many new build properties across London including that in Dominion Court in Hounslow, Applegarth Court in Thornton Heath and Alton Court at Copley.

Shared ownership new build properties can be found in the Camden Road Development and the South West 9 Development in Brixton. Resale properties such as that in East Carriage House in Greenwich and New Clocktower Place in Islington are also available for shared ownership.

Average rental prices in London in June 2018 were £2,917 per calendar month and the rental price range varies from £743 - £7,462 per calendar month.

London postcode areas include WC, EC, NW, N, E, SE, W, and SW.

The most expensive street in London is Kensington Palace Gardens with an average property price of £36,825,992.

Up and coming local areas near Guildford include Crofton Park, Greenford and Morden.