Going up or down? The curious case of London's topsy-turvy house prices

In the strangest market in living memory, here's your guide to what is happening to the value of your home, whether it is a zone one penthouse or a suburban semi.

- By Anna White

House prices in inner London fell for six consecutive months this spring as the housing market in the core of the capital has become increasingly dislocated from the rest of the UK.

Nearly £30,000 (4.4 per cent) was wiped off the value of homes in London's most central boroughs from Hackney to Southwark and Greenwich to Wandsworth between September and March, according to the latest Land Registry figures. Multiple data sources show a continuation of this trend in May and early June. Over the same time frame, prices have nudged up in outer areas of the capital.

Economists and estate agents are describing this strange spring market as the most "polarised" in recent times as steep prices, high mortgage rates and a suite of tax measures that penalise affluent homeowners have conspired to cool the most expensive parts of London, despite a marked recovery elsewhere.

Roarie Scarisbrick, partner at buying agency Property Vision, says the property scene in London is "more fragmented" than he has ever known. "Inner and outer London have now decoupled," he says.

In such a complicated and uncertain housing market it is difficult to price a home accurately and it can be far more arduous to sell in one neighbourhood compared to another.

Homes & Property breaks down your chance of success across London's villages and suburbs, and explains what is selling and where.

Inner London cool with hot pockets

Over the year to March house prices in inner London (the 13 most central boroughs plus the City) have fallen 3.0 per cent compared to a 4.4 per cent rise in outer London. “We have never seen this divergence at such rates,” says Lucian Cook, head of residential research for Savills. This is a continuation of an existing trend: over the past eight years values have fallen 0.2 per cent in inner London and risen 15.4 per cent in outer London according to the Office for National Statistics.