Half London homes on market for longer than 3 months

Source: This is London

More than half the properties for sale in London have been on the market for longer than three months, figures show today.

The proportion of "stale" properties in the capital has jumped by almost 20 per cent since the start of the year. In January 32 per cent had gone unsold for more than 90 days. Last month that figure was 51.2 per cent.

It is more evidence that the homes market is paralysed by "brickor mortis" - when sellers hold out for the right price but buyers struggle to get a mortgage and wait for prices to fall further.

Property website Globrix found the highest proportion of stale properties were in Tower Hamlets and Kingston, where they now make up almost two thirds of the homes for sale.

In Kingston, the proportion has doubled since the beginning of the year from 31 to 62 per cent while in Croydon the figure went up from 18 to 43 per cent.

In Harrow it almost tripled - from 20 to 56 per cent. Bexley was the only borough where the percentage of properties still on the market after more than 90 days has remained static, at 41 per cent.

Agents' website Rightmove, which coined the phrase "brickor mortis" said: "With the scarcity of mortgage availability and the increase in unsold property, brickor mortis is the paralysing condition of properties that stay on the market for so long that they are effectively dead in the water".

The most notable example is the former Belgravia home of London's ex-Transport Commissioner, Bob Kiley, which Transport for London has been trying to sell for a year. It remains on the market in spite of a price cut from £4.95 million to £3.5 million...

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