New Year, Same Housing Market? 2024 was a stop-start year for the prime London property market. Activity was generally subdued but punctuated with bursts of intense activity, meaning transactions finished the year up on both 2023 and the pre-pandemic (2017 to 2019) average. The final quarter of the year took this to extremes, with record-breaking sales volumes in October followed by two quiet months
Prime sales market falls back as expected but pre-Budget momentum is maintained Activity in the prime London sales market was always likely to fall back from what proved to be an exceptionally strong October. October had the highest number of transactions across prime London for the month since our records began and was one of the top 10 figures for any single month. Some of that increase was likely due to deals being concluded in a rush to beat potential Budget tax increases. However, transaction numbers in November 2024 only underperformed slightly for the time of year. They were 4.2% down on the same month last year and 19.4% lower than the 20172019 (pre-pandemic) November average.
A busy October for prime sales as all activity measures significantly up on last year The prime London sales market burst into life in October after what has been a relatively quiet year. All activity measures were significantly up, both compared to last year and longer-term averages for the time of year. Values have been under pressure for a long time and remained lower in October on an annual basis, but the pace of falls has been steadily slowing over the course of the year. Transactions increased by 55.8% in October compared to the same month last year and were 62.8% higher than the 2017-2019 (pre-pandemic) October average. This is a substantial turnaround compared to the relatively subdued performance over the previous nine months of 2024, and the most sales in any October since 2013
After weeks of speculation, leaks, and briefings, Rachel Reeves was the first female Chancellor of the Exchequer to deliver a Budget Statement to the House of Commons. As expected, her speech was sombre, though intensely political – criticising the Conservative Party now in Opposition for what she repeatedly called their 14 years of failure and promising to “fix the foundations to deliver change”, especially in improvements in public services. The government’s Budget measures are predicted by the independent Office for Budget Responsibility to generate nearly £40bn in additional revenue in the 2025/26 tax year. We will be providing a more detailed analysis in due course but we have penned some initial thoughts on what was announced on our website, covering the following key areas: Non-dom reforms Inheritance Tax (IHT) Capital Gains Tax (CGT) UK Property
Weather-wise it wasn’t the greatest of summers, but then again it wasn’t the worst either. A sentiment that pretty much sums up the fortunes of London’s prime housing markets over the last three months. It’s been a stop and start summer dominated by political announcements. The announcement of a general election caused many would-be buyers and sellers to stop in their tracks. Followed six weeks later by the arrival of a new government, followed some three weeks later by the announcement a Budget planned for the end of October. People like to plan with a degree of certainty and there’s been a lot of uncertainty to deal with this summer.
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