Photo: Dominic Lipinski / PA Archive/Press Association Images
For the second month in a row, London house prices have fallen as uncertainty grows following the UK’s vote to leave the EU. In July, the average price had dropped by 1.2 percent to £635,710 [$843,015], but in some areas, the decline was much more dramatic. In the borough of Richmond, the average price plunged by more than 10 percent as sellers slashed asking prices post-referendum.
Property site Rightmove said that in the two weeks following the vote, enquiries from buyers to estate agents were down by 16 percent compared with the same period in 2015.
This fall is most dramatic in London but mirrors the drop in prices across the whole of the country. The overall drop in asking price for properties in England and Wales was 0.9 percent, according to Rightmove’s monthly house price index. Additionally, post-Brexit, more new properties are being listed for sale than during the same period last year.
But is this all just down to Brexit making Britain undesirable? Rightmove director Miles Shipside notes that this time of year usually sees a bit of a downturn. “With the onset of the summer holiday season, new sellers typically price more conservatively, and the average drop in the month of July is 0.4 percent over the last six years,” he explained to the Guardian. “Perhaps unsurprisingly, this July’s fall is marginally larger, as political turbulence has a track record of unsettling sentiment.”
Most experts agree that it’s too early to say whether or not Brexit and all the political fallout that followed will cause long-term issues. Stephanie McMahon, head of research at Strutt & Parker in London, told the Evening Standard: “The next few months will allow us to see if the weakening of the sterling has any significant impact. One of the greatest challenges at the current time remains liquidity and volume of stock.”
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As with everything in apocalyptic post-Brexit Britain, we’ll just have to sit and see how it plays out.
