Recession hits high-end property prices
Thursday, 01 March 2012 10:12High-end property prices have been hit during winter with a 0.4 per cent drop since the beginning of the year.
According to the prime index from PrimeLocation.com properties in the top quarter of the market, in terms of value, have seen significant decreases in asking prices in the hope of enticing buyers.
“Prime properties usually rise in value much faster than the general market – over the past two years prime homes have risen by five per cent while the overall market has stayed largely flat,” property analyst at PrimeLocation.com Nigel Lewis said.
“But, over the past two months the gap between prime and other properties has narrowed.”
While the upcoming end to the stamp duty holiday has pushed up prices and sale numbers in the low-end of the market, prime properties have experienced no such boost.
The decline in the high-end market is out of trend with previous figures where prime property prices were largely unaffected by the recession.
Two regions managed to clock up an increase in asking prices.
London saw a rise of 0.6 per cent with the average house price in January sitting at £1.2 million.
The North West saw a slight rise of 0.1 per cent with the average prime asking price being £363,099.
The worst price decline was experienced in Scotland where high-end properties dropped by 1.1 per cent in value to an average of £387,700.
