LONDON: House prices in the smartest parts of London have fallen by up to 22% since last Autumn, according to the property services group LSL.
The company said that Kensington and Chelsea had seen prices plummet by 16% since a peak in September 2014.
In Westminster it claimed there had been a fall of 22% between a peak in November and the end of May.
It blamed the fall on the new stamp duty regime, introduced in December, which penalises expensive properties.
Based on average prices, anyone buying a property in Kensington and Chelsea can now expect to pay more than £118,000 in stamp duty alone.
“This fall-off in the top tiers of the market has cooled activity levels too,” said Adrian Gill, director of Reed Rains and Your Move estate agents, part of the LSL group.
He said the number of homes being sold in London as a whole had dropped by 16% in the year to April.
