Prime London Market Update - April 2021

26 April 2021

The run-up to the end of the stamp duty holiday on 31 March was always going to be a busy time for the housing market and prime London was no different. A clear roadmap out of lockdown and encouraging momentum on a vaccine roll-out has resulted in a surge of activity in prime London's sales markets as confidence returns.

Inside the April 2021 issue

Sales Update

  • Activity picked up in the final month of Q1 2021 following the news of a stamp duty holiday extension, with 24% more properties listed in March 2021 than the five-year average (2015 -2019). 
  • Transaction volumes also rose across prime areas of London during Q1 2021. Sales were up 40% on Q1 2020 and 22% higher than the previous five-year average.
  • The number of sales in Q1 2021 was the highest for a first-quarter since 2016.

Lettings Update

  • New lets were higher than they were a year ago, with 25% more properties let in Q1 2021 compared with Q1 2020.
  • The average number of days a property remains empty between tenants fell in Q1 2021, from a high of 66 void days in Q4 2020 to 63 this quarter.
  • New instructions in the first three months of the year were 12% higher than a slow Q1 2020, but 19% down on the average number of new first-quarter listings between 2015 and 2019.

LonRes Charts

For sales

  • Annual change in achieved prices by property type - Q1 2021
  • Sales by price band - Q1 2021

For lettings

  • Properties on the market to let - annual change
  • Achieved rents - annual change

Access the issue

Contact

Marcus Dixon
Head of Research, LonRes
T: 020 7924 6622
E: research@lonres.com