House prices in London top £300,000

The average house price in London has exceeded £300,000 for the first time ever.

Figures released today from the Land registry show that the average Greater London property price for July to September increased by 4.47 per cent compared to the same quarter last year.

This means the average property increased in price from £287,470 to £300,329.

Although the increase in prices seemed to deter buyers, with the volume of sales for this quarter decreasing by 15.87 per cent from 39,692 in 2004 to 33,393 this year.

London also holds more than 50 per cent of the properties worth over £1 million sold during this quarter, although this number is also down 93 properties on last year.

The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) said the figures from the Land Registry show a further slowdown in house price inflation to 3.5 per cent in the third quarter.

"The drop in price inflation contrasts with figures released by mortgage lenders in the last few months which showed an upturn in price rises," Milan Khatri, RICS chief economist said.

"This is unsurprising since the Land Registry figures are based on completion prices, which are recorded several months after sales have been agreed. Therefore, the recent upturn in agreed sale prices is unlikely to be fully evident in the Land Registry statistics until the fourth quarter."

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