London Home Sellers Cut Price for Second Time in Three Months

(Bloomberg) -- London home sellers cut asking prices for a second time in three months and waning buyer interest hints that the slowdown may continue.

Prices dropped 2.4 percent in June -- the biggest for that month since 2010 -- leaving them down 1.4 percent from a year earlier, Rightmove Plc said on Monday. Nationally, asking prices slipped 0.4 percent, pushing the annual gain to the weakest since 2013. In London, buyer activity “remains subdued compared to the recent boom years,” Rightmove said.

Multiple reports are signaling a loss of housing momentum. Many first-time buyers have been priced out of the market, while Brexit and political uncertainty may further undermine demand. Figures from Halifax this month showed values are rising at the slowest quarterly pace in four years, while Nationwide Building Society said they’ve fallen for the past three months. London is seeing a sharper slowdown, largely due to weakness in prime locations.

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“It now seems certain that we will have continuing political uncertainty, which the housing market traditionally dislikes,” said Rightmove Director Miles Shipside. “With the first fall in June prices for eight years there is no doubt that the lack of stability is a factor.”

--With assistance from Mark Evans

To contact the reporter on this story: Fergal O'Brien in London at fobrien@bloomberg.net.

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Craig Stirling at cstirling1@bloomberg.net, Zoe Schneeweiss, Stuart Biggs

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