House prices in London and the wider south of England have dipped for the first time in 18 months, driven by uncertainty in the run up to the autumn budget, according to Zoopla.
The property website’s latest house price index showed that there had been a year-on-year slight fall of 0.1% in home values across London to £530,000, as of the end of October. In the South East of England, values had declined 0.1% to £383,100 and by 0.2% in the South West to £311,200.
This came despite the average UK house price more broadly ticking 1.3% higher year-on-year to £270,200. Zoopla said that most regions and counties outside of the South were registering above average house price inflation, with values in the North West up 2.9% from a year ago.
Zoopla said that the decline in house prices in the South came as rumours of a new annual property tax on homes worth over £500,000 in the lead up to the budget, created uncertainty across the market. It said that this lead to a 12% decline in buyer demand and fewer sales agreed in the four weeks up to 23 November.
However, this speculated new tax was not included in Wednesday’s budget. Instead, chancellor Rachel Reeves announced a new “high value” council tax surcharge on properties worth over £2m, dubbed a “mansion tax”.