Rightmove: London house prices up 23.6%

Asking prices for homes in London have experienced the highest annual rate of growth ever recorded at 23.6 per cent.

That is according to the latest house price index from Rightmove, which shows the capital recording a rise of 2.9 per cent in the last month, taking the average asking price to £355,097.

The news comes as asking prices across England and Wales have been dropping, with seven out of ten regions recording lower asking prices.

"It is traditional for sellers who come onto the market to trim their prices to attract buyers who are distracted by Christmas. Although that's what is happening nationally, the London market remains buoyant," commented Miles Shipside, Rightmove’s commercial director.

Mr Shipside said banks and City institutions rewarding their staff with record levels of bonuses combined with the shortage of homes on the market has resulted in high house price growth.

"This is the trend we had highlighted at the same time last year. The divide between London and the rest of the country is bigger than ever and the capital is leading the way with prices 50 per cent higher than the national average," Mr Shipside said.

The biggest change in London over the last month was in the borough of Islington, where average asking prices rose almost £30,000, going up 6.5 per cent to £446,919.

The next closest boroughs were the well-known London property hot-spots of Camden (up 4.5 per cent) and the City of Westminster (up 4.1 per cent).

More surprisingly, prices in Haringey experienced the joint fourth largest growth (tied with Wandsworth) over the last month, going up four per cent to reach £344,625.

Asking prices in Waltham Forest, Hillingdon, Barking and Dagenham and Croydon were in the bottom five (up between 1.6 and 1.8 per cent), with the smallest growth recorded by Kingston-upon-Thames at 0.9 per cent.