Half London homes on market for longer than 3 months

More than half the properties for sale in London have been on the market for longer than three months, figures show today.

The proportion of "stale" properties in the capital has jumped by almost 20 per cent since the start of the year. In January 32 per cent had gone unsold for more than 90 days. Last month that figure was 51.2 per cent.

It is more evidence that the homes market is paralysed by "brickor mortis" - when sellers hold out for the right price but buyers struggle to get a mortgage and wait for prices to fall further.

Property website Globrix found the highest proportion of stale properties were in Tower Hamlets and Kingston, where they now make up almost two thirds of the homes for sale.

In Kingston, the proportion has doubled since the beginning of the year from 31 to 62 per cent while in Croydon the figure went up from 18 to 43 per cent.

In Harrow it almost tripled - from 20 to 56 per cent. Bexley was the only borough where the percentage of properties still on the market after more than 90 days has remained static, at 41 per cent.

Agents' website Rightmove, which coined the phrase "brickor mortis" said: "With the scarcity of mortgage availability and the increase in unsold property, brickor mortis is the paralysing condition of properties that stay on the market for so long that they are effectively dead in the water".

The most notable example is the former Belgravia home of London's ex-Transport Commissioner, Bob Kiley, which Transport for London has been trying to sell for a year. It remains on the market in spite of a price cut from £4.95 million to £3.5 million.

Daniel Lee of Globrix said: "The London market has pretty much ground to a halt. Transaction levels are the lowest on record so a significant percentage of properties are just languishing unsold.

"The Government's decision to axe stamp duty for properties below £175,000 for a year is unlikely to kick-start the market, as only five per cent of properties currently for sale in the capital will benefit from this tax holiday."

Tuesday's package of measures to help the market, which included tinkering with stamp duty, is expected to do little apart from unfreezing sales which had been put on hold pending the final announcement of the cut.

Peter Bolton King, chief executive of The National Association of Estate Agents, said: "The indecision over the last month, since the Chancellor first mentioned the possibility of changes to stamp duty, had a major effect on consumer confidence and killed off a large proportion of sales. So we welcome the certainty - but the measures will not have the impact needed to revive the housing market in London and much of the South-East due to the high average price of first-time-buyer properties. "In addition, the Government's offer of interest-free five-year loans of up to 30 per cent of the property's value for first-time buyers when buying a new home from developers discriminates against the second-hand market, where property will continue to stagnate."

One Londoner hit by the slump in sales is journalist Jill Starley-Grainger.

She put her Chelsea bolthole, a one bedroom flat, up for sale four months ago. The 37-year-old and her husband Tim, 34, tried to sell the flat with a 20-year lease for £299,000 but they have had to cut £50,000 off the price.

'We're in the nightmare scenario. No one will buy'

PHIL SMITH has found his dream family home, a three-bedroom house with a garden, and has had his offer to buy accepted.

But the 32-year-old cannot clinch the deal because he is struggling to sell his two-bedroom flat in Wimbledon.

Five months after putting the property on the market at £335,000, Mr Smith and 29-yearold wife Amber are still waiting for an offer.

The couple, who have a twoyearold son Saatchi and a baby daughter Syrocco, have spent £8,000 renovating the flat.

"There are several properties for sale on our street and ours is the cheapest and the nicest and there are still no takers," Mr Smith said.

They reduced their asking price by £40,000 this month to £295,000 which would give them a profit of £61,000 after buying it three years ago for £234,000.

But Mr Smith thinks he has had no offers because first-time buyers cannot get a mortgage.

The owner of the property he wants to move to, in Wimbledon Park, has agreed to match Mr Smith's price cuts to keep his buyer.

Mr Smith said: "It's a nightmare scenario. I think he realises if the gap gets bigger, we won't be able to afford it and will drop out. Then he will be back at square one."