Kentish Town house sells at record speed as appetite for Camden property steady

The London property market saw the first March fall in prices in three years this month, with inner London asking prices falling by 2.2 percent.

This is the biggest decrease in the month of March – the beginning of a period when the market tends to start picking up – since 2011, according to figures from online property portal Rightmove.

However, average asking prices in the capital are still increasing, with the typical price tag on a property in London now £580,308.

Nationally the average asking price has risen to £273,528, which is £34,000 higher than the pre-crisis high in 2008.

This month’s figures suggest a more nuanced re-adjustment of the market, with pricing and time to sell seeing considerable variations depending on the location and calibre of properties.

Miles Shipside, Rightmove director and housing market analyst said: “The top and bottom ends of the market in the capital are suffering, having become over-heated and also out of kilter with either buyers’ judgements of value or ability to afford.

“An over-heating market can take a long time to cool back down and for transaction volumes to recover after buyers have been driven out by over-pricing.”

This view seems to be reinforced by the situation in Camden, which saw asking prices rise 2.4 per cent to £1,044,045 in March.

Agents operating primarily at the top of the market have been reporting steep drops in activity, while those dealing in mid-range properties have seen a greater appetite from buyers.

Chesterton’s Kentish Town broke their own record for time to sell in March, with a three-bedroom terraced property snapped up within 48 hours last week.

Peter Malcomess, associate director of the branch, said: “This is the quickest sale we’ve ever done. We launched the property on the Monday afternoon and the sale was agreed on Wednesday for the asking price of £1.15million.

“When a property of this nature comes on it’ll fly out because there are a lot of people looking at this level.

“However, a couple of streets up you’re looking at properties costing more like £1.5 million and that brings a whole lot of things into consideration, in particular higher Stamp Duty liability.

“The election is certainly putting a dampener on things and there’s a general feeling that people are holding off. Instructions have been a little slower than last year but there are still certain properties that will move more quickly than others.”