London properties taking more than 3 months to sell

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by Kay Murchie

Figures have revealed that half the properties for sale in London have been on the market for over three months.

Vendors are holding out for the right price while buyers are struggling to obtain a mortgage and are waiting to see if house prices fall further.

Property website, Globrix has established that the highest proportion of stale properties were in Tower Hamlets and Kingston, where they now total over 60% of the homes for sale.

Meanwhile, in Kingston, the proportion has doubled since the start of 2008 from 31 to 62%, while in Croydon the figure rose from 18 to 43%. In Harrow, the figure rose from 20 to 56%.

Bexley was the only borough where the percentage of properties still up for sale for over 90 days has remained static, at 41%.

Daniel Lee of Globrix said the market in the capital has come to a standstill. Transaction levels are the lowest ever so a considerable percentage of properties are just sitting unsold.

Earlier this week, the Government announced new measures to kick-start the housing market, one being increasing the stamp duty threshold. Properties costing less than £175,000 are now exempt from stamp duty for the next 12 months.

However, just 5% of properties currently up for sale in London will benefit from the stamp duty suspension, according to Globrix.

In related news, a recent report by Lurot Brand estate agents revealed that high-end property in London is still booming.

Whilst property prices continue to fall throughout the rest of the country, including Central London, houses at the top end of the market in London are holding their own, particularly mews houses, said the agent.

The reason for the success, believes Lurot Brand, is the fact that there are only about 7000 mews houses in London compared with many hundreds of thousands of flats.

Furthermore, the properties are usually freehold with no service charges and boast a garage or a roof terrace, or sometimes both.

Mews houses were formerly rows of stables and coach houses with living quarters above, built behind houses, particularly in 17th and 18th century London.