Buyers, if they do not actually expect prices to fall, no longer feel impelled to leap into the market with the haste seen earlier in the year.
Accordingly, we have witnessed more flexibility from vendors and this is greatly to be welcomed. In our view, the market is now sustainable thanks to the recent slowdown in growth. With the boom averted, a bust seems correspondingly less likely.
We anticipate steady growth in prices in London and we expect this more realistic growth to be at an annualised rate in the mid-to-low single digits. Solid market fundamentals continue to indicate this level of steady growth: in our analysis, the effect of substantial local regeneration has not yet been fully priced into the market. Moreover, it remains the case that landlords stand to gain more in Battersea and Nine Elms than in fully mature markets elsewhere in London as the benefits of substantial local infrastructure investments are yet to bear fruit on prices.
