Standing view · housing · City of London
deteriorating, held with established confidence, formed on 5 October 2026 from movements in 2026-07.
The housing market in City of London has been losing ground, and the price series is the clearest part of it. The average house price was 711,681 in January 2026, 689,259 in February, 682,379 in March, 681,034 in April and 664,516 in May 2026. On the homelessness side, households in temporary accommodation stood at 40 in the first quarter of 2026 and households in bed and breakfast at 6, both recorded as unfavourable against the usual pattern for their quarter, with relief duty owed at 14. Five consecutive months of prices and two rising homelessness measures is what carries the view.
A view is formed only where the evidence names a figure you can check. Each movement listed as a reason had to be large enough to matter and distinctive in at least one way — unusual against this area's own history, unusual against comparable areas, or sustained over several periods. A movement shared with peers counts for less, because it says something about the country rather than about City of London. Where no figure supports a direction we hold no view rather than a hedged one.
| Measure | Period | Direction |
|---|---|---|
| Households in bed and breakfast | 2026-Q1 | deteriorating |
| Households in temporary accommodation | 2026-Q1 | deteriorating |
These figures carry no defensible direction of their own: a rising house price is good news to an owner and bad news to someone trying to buy, so we do not score one as an improvement. They are shown because they are part of the picture, and they did not decide the view above.
| Measure | Period | Series |
|---|---|---|
| Average house price | 2026-01 | — |
| Average house price | 2026-02 | — |
| Relief duty owed | 2026-Q1 | rising |
| Average house price | 2026-03 | — |
| Average house price | 2026-04 | — |
| Average house price | 2026-05 | — |