Haringey biggest victim of year’s first house price drop in London

The average house price in Haringey has dropped by almost £35,000 in a month, as the London housing market starts to cool. New seller asking prices fell by 4.8 per cent to £656,512 - the highest fall of anywhere in the capital, and a far steeper decline than the London-wide average of -0.5 per cent, according to property portal Rightmove.

Haringey had been one of the best performing boroughs, which prices soaring from £517,634 in January this year, to £689,472 in May.

Neighbouring Barnet and Enfield also saw some of the highest drops in the capital, while Westminster topped the table for the highest rise - just 3.5 per cent.

Miles Shipside, Rightmove director and housing market analyst, said: “Parts of the London market are starting to run out of steam.

“While the legacy of rises in central London continues to ripple out to its better-value commuter-belt, fuelling price increases in all other southern regions, London itself is now marking time.

“It’s an example to the rest of the country of what happens when affordability and common sense get stretched too far.

“Through luck or judgement it appears that the timing of the Mortgage Market Review, more property coming to market, and a tail-off in pent-up buyer demand are alleviating some of the upwards price pressure.

“A cooling in London prices will come as a relief to the Governor of the Bank of England and the Financial Policy Committee, who have cited an over-heating housing market as a serious threat to economic recovery and have further powers to use should it get out of hand.”