Prices up 2.4% (From Ealing Times)

Prices up 2.4%

11:29am Wednesday 23rd July 2003 in

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ASKING prices in Hillingdon last month were 2.4 per cent up on May, according to the latest Rightmove index.

It was one of the few London boroughs which recorded an increase. Prices over Greater London as a whole fell a marginal 0.2 per cent.

The market has not picked up as well as agents expected following the war in Iraq.

"In particular the absence of first time buyers who are finding themselves increasingly priced out of the market has made it difficult to build chains and has proved a dampener," say the researchers.

Properties in London were taking an average of 67 days to find a buyer in June, longer even than this year's previous low of 62 days. At the height of the boom a year ago, properties for sale were whizzing out of agents' doors.

The average asking price for flats and maisonettes across the country dropped 1.4 per cent last month while detached houses increased 1.8 per cent and the price of terraced homes shot up 3.6 per cent.

More properties are coming off the market than coming on which is shifting the scales in favour of sellers instead of buyers who have had the upper hand so far this year. However most agents still have very high stock levels. The national average is 63 per branch compared with 40 this time last year.

Rightmove's commercial director Miles Shipside said: "The indicators in the market are positive in that supply is no longer outstripping demand but activity is far below what we were seeing last year. Stock levels remain very high and with low interest rates and lots of good mortgage deals it's still a good time to buy for first time and subsequent buyers."