London House Prices Plunge

Asking prices for London homes fell the most in nine months in May as concern about potential property-tax changes before the election cooled demand.

Prices dropped 2.3 percent from April — led by top-priced Kensington and Chelsea — and were up 1.5 percent from a year earlier, property website operator Rightmove said on Monday. That’s the smallest annual gain in more than four years. Nationally, prices slipped 0.1 percent, the first decline in a May since the last general election in 2010.

Concerns in the run-up to the election surrounding housing policy proposals — particularly those put forward by the opposition Labour Party — unnerved buyers and caused fewer homes to be put on the market, Rightmove said. A pickup is now likely after the Conservative Party’s victory removed threats including a potential tax on the most expensive homes.

Bloomberg

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