London home-value gains slow in Q4 as market cools

London

LONDON'S home-value gains slowed to an annualised rate of about 5 per cent during the fourth quarter as high prices and restrictions on mortgage lending cooled the market, Hometrack said.

Prices in the UK capital climbed 14.7 per cent in December from a year earlier, the research company said in a statement last Friday. UK home price growth, which was 8.3 per cent during the period, has plateaued and will slow in 2015, according to the statement. Bank of England (BOE) governor Mark Carney in June placed restrictions on mortgage lending to cool the housing market and prevent an unsustainable build-up of consumer debt as soaring prices stretched affordability. The slowdown has been more pronounced in London, where prices have climbed 55 per cent in five years, Hometrack said.