London new-build sales buoyant pre-lockdown

New figures point to the strength of the market in January, February and early March.
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Categories: Covid-19 London

New-build sales volumes climbed to their second highest level since early 2015 between January and March, data from Molior shows.

The figures provide further evidence as to the strength of the market in London pre-lockdown.

It follows the release of alternative sales data for the prime London property market which suggests that the ‘Boris bounce’ was more than an soundbite.

While 2019 was the strongest year for transactions since 2014, this recovery began to accelerate in the three months between the general election and the lockdown.

Prices in prime central London grew by 0.2% in the first quarter of 2020, according to data collected before lockdown measures were introduced. It was the biggest Q1 increase in five years. Meanwhile, in prime outer London, average prices rose 0.5% over the same period, the largest growth in four years.

As a result of this stronger trajectory, the annual decline in PCL was 1.1% in March, the lowest figure in two years, and an equivalent drop of 0.6% in prime outer London was the smallest since September 2016.