London property market set to continue to outperform rest of UK

London property market set to continue to outperform rest of UK

Property price growth in London continues to outperform the wider UK market average, with 2% price growth expected this year across Greater London and a 5% increase anticipated for the Prime Central London Market, according to Jones Lang LaSalle.

This compares to continued deteriorating values in the Midlands and North of England, where house prices are set to fall by 2% during 2011.

‘London is being supported by international capital and year end bonus money. Foreign capital has been flowing into London’s residential market since Sterling started to weaken in the second half of 2008,’ said James Thomas, head of residential investment and development at Jones Lang LaSalle.

‘This has been bolstered even further since the start of the year as geopolitical unrest across Africa and the Middle East has intensified, illustrating how London is perceived to be a safe haven for investment. Likewise, property market cooling measures across markets in Asia have served to further concentrate outward investment on central London,’ he added.