London property prices: recent trends and neighbourhoods

Average price, a fall in the centre, borough by borough, leasehold and Stamp Duty: where London property stands in 2026.

The Remoters editorial team

Published on

16 August 2024

Updated on

6 October 2026

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London property prices have been falling for nearly a year, while they are still rising in the rest of England. According to the official index published by HM Land Registry and the Office for National Statistics (ONS), the average price of a home in London was £569,000 in July 2026, down 3.3% over one year. It is the eleventh consecutive month of annual decline, and the average price is now £19,000 below its July 2025 peak.

This fall mainly affects Inner London, meaning the central neighbourhoods. Several upmarket boroughs are losing more than 10% in a year, while some areas in the east are still rising. Here are the official figures, what they say neighbourhood by neighbourhood, and the costs to plan for if you buy from France.

London, the only region in decline

Over the twelve months to July 2026, the average price of a home rose 1.1% in England (£293,000) and 1.4% in the United Kingdom (£273,000). London is the only English region in decline, with its weakest annual change since January 2024. The ONS points out that the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) survey for July 2026 also showed moderate downward pressure on prices, particularly in London.

More recent data confirms this slowdown. According to the Nationwide bank index, cited by The Guardian, the annual rise in UK prices fell to 0.8% in September 2026, the weakest since December 2025, against a backdrop of rising mortgage rates.

Who buys, and at what price

The Land Registry breaks down average prices by buyer profile and method of financing in London in July 2026:

first-time buyers: £466,851, down 4% over one year;
buyers who already own a home: £693,923, down 2.3%;
cash purchases: £585,219 on average;
purchases with a mortgage: £542,867 on average.

For new-build homes, the latest reliable figures cover May 2026: £509,334 on average for a new-build home, against £549,723 for an existing home. The volume of sales registered in London in May 2026 was provisionally 4,006, against 5,139 in May 2025. These recent volumes are still incomplete, because registering a sale with the land registry can take several weeks.

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Prices by borough

The Land Registry publishes an average price for each London borough. Here is a selection, for July 2026, with the change over one year:

Kensington and Chelsea: £1,232,640 (down 14.1%);
Westminster: £876,788 (down 20.7%);
Camden: £815,159 (down 10.1%);
Hammersmith and Fulham: £738,048 (down 9%);
Wandsworth: £686,076 (down 5.5%);
Islington: £674,592 (down 4.9%);
Hackney: £605,729 (down 2.6%);
Southwark: £572,478 (flat, up 0.1%);
Waltham Forest: £529,102 (up 2.8%);
Greenwich: £462,589 (down 1.4%);
Tower Hamlets: £447,796 (down 14.4%);
Newham: £390,349 (down 5%);
Croydon: £390,041 (down 3.4%);
Barking and Dagenham: £375,604 (up 5.3%).

Two readings emerge. The centre and the west, where prices were highest, are correcting the most sharply. The east and north-east, which are cheaper, are holding up better, and even rising. The Land Registry does warn, however: in a borough with few sales, one month of data can be skewed by a few atypical transactions. To judge a neighbourhood, look at the trend over several months and compare properties of the same type.

The case of flats

Flats are harder to sell than houses. In England, the average price of a flat fell 3.5% over one year, to £217,362 in July 2026, the biggest drop of any property type. According to a Zoopla analysis reported by The Guardian in August 2026, about 87% of leasehold flats put up for sale in London in 2025 had not found a buyer after six months, against 80.5% on average in England.

The same analysis explains part of the blockage: in London, flats sold by investors are listed at around £450,000, while the typical first-time buyer's budget is around £425,000. For a buyer, this opens up room to negotiate, provided you read the lease terms carefully.

Leasehold: what to check

Most flats put up for sale in England are leasehold: you buy a right to occupy the home for a fixed period, not the walls. Before making an offer, ask for:

the remaining length of the lease: about a fifth of leasehold listings have less than 100 years remaining, according to Zoopla, and an extension costs more the shorter the lease is;
the service charge: Zoopla estimates it at £1,900 a year on average, plus £200 of ground rent;
the three-year history of charges, which some buyers insist on to spot a drift.

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Purchase costs for a foreign buyer

In England, the buyer pays Stamp Duty Land Tax (SDLT), calculated in bands on the price. Two rules matter particularly if you live in France:

the non-resident surcharge: if you have not spent at least 183 days in the United Kingdom in the twelve months before the purchase, a 2% surcharge is added to all the other rates;
higher rates for an additional home: if you already own a home worth £40,000 or more, anywhere in the world, and you are not selling it, the higher rates apply from 1 April 2025: 5% up to £125,000, 7% from £125,001 to £250,000, 10% from £250,001 to £925,000, 15% up to £1.5 million and 17% above that.

As a guide, for a flat at the average London price of £569,000, bought by a non-resident who remains the owner of their home in France, these scales give £46,900 of higher-rate SDLT, plus £11,380 of surcharge, or about £58,300. Have the calculation validated by a solicitor: exceptions exist, notably if you sell your main residence.

Interest rates: where things stand

The Bank of England held its base rate at 3.75% on 17 September 2026, with inflation at 3.1% against a 2% target. It stresses that the rise in energy prices linked to the conflict in the Middle East risks pushing inflation up further. Its next decision is expected on 5 November 2026. For a buyer financing a purchase with a mortgage, this means rates that stay high in the short term.

Buy or rent first

Renting for a few months lets you test a neighbourhood before committing. Rents, for their part, keep rising: according to the ONS, the average rent in London reached £2,332 per month in August 2026, up 3.5% over one year, and £3,690 in Kensington and Chelsea, the most expensive borough in the United Kingdom. In eastern neighbourhoods such as Stratford or Walthamstow, expect more like £1,400 to £1,700 per month for a one-bedroom flat.

Preparing a purchase in London

Think by borough and by type of property: the differences in trend between the centre and the east are clear in 2026.
Compare asking price and registered price: the Land Registry publishes actual sale prices, which are useful for negotiating.
Read the lease before making an offer: remaining term, charges and ground rent weigh on resale.
Work out the SDLT from the start, especially if you are keeping a home in France.

If you are searching from France, a Remoters home finder based in London can shortlist properties, view them for you, check the leasehold points and support you through to signing with your solicitor. The first conversation and the quote are free.