House sales doubled in wake of Lehman collapse

THE number of homes for sale in some London boroughs doubled in the week of "Meltdown Monday" as bankers tried to sell off houses amid the threat of redundancy.

Evening Standard has learned that the collapse of investment bank Lehman Brothers on 14 September sparked a huge rise in the number of homes being sold near Canary Wharf and in wealthy west London suburbs.

In Kensington and Chelsea 71 properties went on sale in the week before 14 September, but 135 in the seven days after Meltdown Monday. In Tower Hamlets the numbers were 74 and 139. In Hackney 50 properties went on sale the week before Meltdown Monday, and almost doubled to 98 in the seven days after it.

Phil Tennant, regional sales director of Hamptons International, said: "We have had two Lehman Brothers employees making enquiries about selling at our Sheen office and two chaps from JP Morgan at the Richmond office shortly after the Lehman collapse."

Noel de Keyser of Savills said: "We saw big increases in people coming into our offices to sell their houses in the week immediately following the Lehman Brothers collapse. In our Kensington, Knightsbridge, Mayfair and Fulham offices the number of new instructions in the £3million to £10 million bracket jumped from 17 to 23."

Daniel Lee from property search engine Globrix, who compiled the figures, said: "It seems that Meltdown Monday may have pushed many homeowners who are tied into very large mortgages into panic selling while they feel they still have the chance."

Housing minister Margaret Beckett said that £13 million will be spent by the Government on buying up 335 homes in the capital to rent out to people in need of social housing.