Gulf between London and the rest of the UK at 20-year high
HOUSE prices in London and the south east have soared so fast that the gap with the rest of the country is at the highest level since 1995, LSL Property Services said today.
In London, the average price stands at £571,336, while the overall average price in the country is £274,302.
But excluding those two expensive regions, the average price stands £89,000 lower at £185,498.
This is the biggest gap since 1995, and appears to indicate that after a property crash, prices start to rise first – and fastest – in the more affluent capital and surrounding areas.
But within London there are also very widely varying prices.
In affluent Kensington and Chelsea the average price of a home in July came in at £1.98m, up 24.8 per cent on the year.
But in Barking and Dagenham, the average was just £210,480, though this too was up 12.5 per cent over 12 months.
The fastest increase came in Lambeth – prices in the south London borough shot up 39.6 per cent to an average of £579,420.