Home buyers and sellers are back: surge in post-election sales is 'strongest evidence yet' of London property market boost

The strongest evidence yet that London’s property market has turned a corner has emerged, in figures showing new home starts, completions and sales all growing again.

Developers broke ground at 5,275 new home sites in the last quarter, up 12 per cent on the previous three months, according to latest data from respected analysts Molior London.

Sales rose by a fifth to 5,684, the highest since the first quarter of 2018, while completions were up at 6,153.

The figures confirm that buyers and sellers have returned to the market in droves since Boris Johnson’s crushing election win.

Molior’s fourth-quarter report singles out three London schemes where sales have been particularly strong, propelled in part by the Government’s Help to Buy loans.

They are Bellway’s St George’s Park in Hornchurch, launched in November, which notched up 46 sales by Christmas; Taylor Wimpey’s Eclipse development in Walthamstow, where 200 apartments were sold last year, 30 as affordable homes, and Linden Homes’ Brunel Street Works in Canning Town which achieved 55 sales from the October launch to the end of the year.

Three other schemes — Berkeley’s West End Gate near Paddington; Mount Anvil’s Three Waters in Bow and Barratt’s Western Circus, in Acton, also all sold well, according to Molior.

The report is based on analysis of all 669 developments building at least 20 homes each across London. There were also 27 developments, with a total of 2,390 units, where work stalled altogether.

But the turn in sentiment has been sudden, with a “marked improvement” in the last few months of a year dominated by Brexit and political turmoil.

The report concludes that London’s housebuilders might soon be buying land again to create more homes.