London House Prices Post First Decline in Almost a Decade

(Bloomberg) -- London’s property boom is officially over.

Property prices in the U.K. capital recorded their first drop since 2009 in February, falling 1 percent from a year earlier, according to the Office for National Statistics on Wednesday. That’s down from growth as much as 20.6 percent in August 2016.

Despite the slide, London homes remain by far the U.K.’s most expensive at an average 472,000 pounds ($670,000) -- more than double the national average of 225,000 pounds.

Read more: Breakdown of the London property market

That gap is slowly starting to close though as the capital’s gloom has yet to spread to the rest of the country. Nationally prices rose 4.4 percent, with every region outside London posting gains. The West Midlands reported the biggest jump, with prices climbing 7.3 percent, the largest increase since June 2016.

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