House prices continue to fall in London: survey

LONDON - House prices continue to fall in London as the peak spring selling season approaches, with prices falling one percent over the past year, a latest survey said Thursday.

The stagnant London property market shows few sign of sparking into life because the capital was once again the only region in the country in negative territory as uncertainty over Brexit, the squeeze on household budgets and higher rates of tax continued to take their toll on the market, said Jonathan Prynn, the consumer business editor of the Evening Standard newspaper.

At the end of the first quarter of the year, the average home in London was valued at 473,776 British pounds (some $665,892), just under 5,000 pounds (about $7,027) lower than the previous year, latest figure from the nation's leading mortgage lender Nationwide revealed.

Estate agents hope that Easter and the arrival of warmer weather will spur activity in a market where the number of deals is still around 20 percent down on a year ago.

Few commentators expect a crash this year because of sale and continuing low mortgage rates, Prynn said.

UK house prices fell in March for the second month in a row, with London again the weakest region, according to Nationwide.

The average price of a home was 211,625 pounds ($297,489.73) last month, down 0.2 percent from the previous month. In February, values fell 0.4 percent. The annual rate of growth in March slowed to 2.1 percent from 2.2 percent, marking the joint lowest rate since June 2013.