Sales

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%.

2013 was "astonishing", says Douglas & Gordon's Chairman Michael Hodgson: sales values overshot forecasts by quite the margin, rising by 17% over the year, with transactions hitting their highest tally…

A bevy of big league resi developers have signed up to a new "voluntary commitment" that could affect the way new schemes are marketed from next year.

After capital value growth of +3% in 2013's final quarter, taking the annual rise to +12.6%, the average property in prime central London is now worth £1.