New Builds Flooding Market in Some Boroughs

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Research from Propcision has revealed that Tower Hamlets, Newham and Southwark lead the way in having the greatest percentage of properties classified as "new homes" listed for sale. (See chart below) One in three properties for sale in Tower Hamlets and Newham are classified as as "new home" in Rightmove. This comes as no surprise as recent data from Greater London Authority shows Tower Hamlets has increased its residential dwelling density by 38 percent in the past 14 years.

By 2018, the Greater London Authority predicts Tower Hamlets overtaking Islington as the most densely-populated borough in London. Building rates show little signs of abating as planning permission applications for major residential developments continue at a high rate. See full article on Tower Hamlets and recent research in housing.

The high concentration of new homes could apply additional pressure to housing markets in the local areas. If demand weakens and new stock continues to be introduced to the market, then price reductions in those areas could follow. Some sellers may turn to attracting tenants rather than buyers and they seek alternatives to selling in a weak market. This, in turn, could apply further pressure on rental yields in areas like Canary Wharf where there has been signs of rental yield weakening.

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Propcision retrieved properties currently listed for sale by London borough. Then, using the Rightmove "new home" filter, filtered the results to just list properties classified by the agents as "new". Typically, this definition has been applied to new builds however, on agents listing the properties have been known to classify some existing properties as a "new home" if it was recently renovated.