London home prices start cooling amid construction boom

[LONDON] Twenty one cranes loom over the south bank of the River Thames from Battersea Power Station to the St George Wharf tower. Here, in the biggest concentration of residential projects in London, developers are steaming ahead just as prices are starting to fall.

Homebuilding in central London doubled in two years as record-low interest rates and demand from overseas buyers drove up values at a pace not seen since 1987.

Developers such as China's Dalian Wanda Group and UK-based Berkeley Group Holdings were drawn to the Nine Elms district, where Malaysia's Sime Darby is redeveloping the Battersea station as part of a plan to turn the neighbourhood into a prime address.

As the apartment towers rise, the price increases that underpinned the construction boom have come to a halt. London home values fell month-on-month for the first time in two years in September, according to Hometrack, and builders such as Killian Hurley, chief executive officer of London-based Mount Anvil Group, don't see a return t…