London home-price drop deepens as rules limit buyers

London

SUE Munden bought her five-bedroom house in the south-west London district of Streatham in November after negotiating the price down to £610,000 (S$1.25 million), about £100,000 less than a similar home on the street sold for in April.

"I did look earlier in the year, but I wasn't able to have an offer accepted at a level I was comfortable with," said Ms Munden, who was surprised to get the property for £90,000 less than the offer price. "I thought house prices were too high."

The drop in prices is spreading through London as the Bank of England's (BOE's) restrictions on mortgage loans limit some borrowing. Values fell or were unchanged in 18 per cent of the city's postal-code districts in the three months to end-October, double the percentage of the previous quarter, according to data compiled by property researc…