London house prices 'will rise'

Londoners have predicted house prices in the borough of Kensington an Chelsea will rise more in the next five years than any other London borough, according to a new YouGov poll.

According to the figures:

• Kensington and Chelsea - 44% put it in their top three, though it is already the most expensive, with an average house price of £1.5 million.
• Westminster - 35% of Londoners picked it, which saw the greatest rise in average house price, a staggering increase of 35.6% in 12 months.

Other boroughs fared less popular:

• The City of London - 29%
• Richmond upon Thames - 20%
• Hammersmith and Fulham and Kingston upon Thames - 10%
• Islington - 8%

• Wandsworth and Camden - 7%
• Greenwich - 6%
• Tower Hamlets - 5%
• Hackney and Southwark - 4%
• Harrow, Lambeth and Newham - 3%

And all other boroughs were below 2%.

Simon Rubinsohn, chief economist at the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS), has said new house price figures show a "yawning gap" between London and the rest of the country.

He said: "The latest RICS survey suggests that the success of the Funding for Lending Scheme is bringing more tangible benefits to the market away from the capital and this reflected in the expectations that prices will begin to edge upwards in all the regions [...] over the coming year.

"Buyer appetite has responded to the greater availability and accessibility of mortgage finance and the early indications are that the Help to Buy scheme is further boosting sentiment."

House prices have recorded their strongest year-on-year growth in 18 months, in further signs that the market is gathering momentum, Nationwide has reported.

Separate Land Registry sales figures for England and Wales released today showed that house prices rose by 0.4% month-on-month in April to reach £161,458 on average, making them 0.7% higher than a year ago.

Prices in London, which has had strong demand from overseas buyers, were 6.2% higher year-on-year, at £375,795 typically.

A lot of people will be "caught by surprise" in terms of rising house prices in the capital, YouGov Director of Political and Social Research said today.

Commenting on the new poll, which reveals that an overwhelming majority of Londoners believe that house prices will go up, Joe Twyman said:

More than three-quarters of Londoners believe that house prices in the capital will continue to rise, both in the short and long term, according to a new YouGov poll.

The new figures reveal:

• 77% of people living in London say the average house price will rise over the next 12 months.
• 83% think house prices will go up over the next five years.
• 74% of Londoners predict that the average house price in their local area will go up over the next 12 months.

• 80% foresee house prices rising in their area over the next five years.

An overwhelming majority of Londoners believe that house prices in the capital will continue to rise, according to a new YouGov poll.

Yesterday OECD economists warned that Chancellor George Osborne’s ‘Help to Buy’ mortgage scheme could inflate house prices. The news came one week after new figures showed that the average asking price for a house in London surpassed £500,000 for the first time.