Sales

Orion Capital has pushed up the next phase release date for its UNStudio-designed Canaletto development next to the City Road Basin, after being happily surprised by early sales numbers.

House prices across the UK rose by 8.4% last year after a +1.4% December spurt, according to the latest from Knight Frank. London under-performed the wider country, posting a 7.5% price increase (+0.

Average asking prices have shot up by 1% in the "the largest ever January rise in the price of property coming to market," according to Rightmove.

There was no sign of the big festive feet-up in the sales market last month; quite the opposite in fact, according to RICS' latest UK-wide poll.

The average property price in prime central London breached £1.5m in 2013, hitting £1,543,102 at the end of November after "robust" but "unremarkable" annual growth of 12.

International buyers accounted for 56.5% of Chelsea specialist Russell Simpson's sales last year, while nearly three quarters of new tenants were from overseas.

December kicked right off in Douglas & Gordon's patch, with a 50% increase in the number of properties hitting the market, a 20% jump in new buyer registrations and a 40% hike in the number of offers received.

The National Association of Estate Agents and the Association of Residential Lettings Agents are launching TV advertising campaigns to promote the importance of choosing a licensed sales or lettings agent.

The London suburb of Fulham saw more £1m+ sales than any other area of the UK last year, with a whopping 335 deals at an average price of£1,779,323.

Prime central London prices turned in a strong finish to the year, with a 0.8% rise in December halting a ten-month slowing in the rate of annual growth, which had dropped to 6.9% in November.

Egerton Crescent in South Kensington has been given the title of "Nation's Most Expensive Address" by Lloyds Bank for the second year running, with an average sale price of £7,369,000.

The average price of a prime country house in the UK climbed by 1.4% in the final quarter of 2013, according to Knight Frank, taking the annual rise to 3.1%.