The strong performance of the London property market over the last few years, but especially in the past 12 months, has led many to alter their forecasts for the rest of the UK property market, with much more positive price growth expected.

Cluttons has just reported, in its Q3 Residential Investment Monitor report, that property prices in Prime Central London (PCL) increased by 2.8% in Q3 and prices are up 9.7% over the past 12 months, which is 'well ahead of the long run average'. However, rents across the capital have stopped rising, forcing average gross rental yields to as low as 3.5% in some parts of the city, which is hardly salivating!

Nationwide reported that annual growth in London reached 10% in Q3, compared to annual growth of 4.3% across the UK. Robert Gardner, Nationwide's chief economist, said: "House price growth accelerated in London to reach 10%, the first time the capital has seen double digit growth since 2010. Prices in London are now 8% above their 2007 peak, with the price of a typical London home at £331,338.

"The South of England and the Midlands continued to outperform the North. Outside of London, East Anglia was the strongest performing region, with annual price growth of 6.6%, whilst the North was the weakest UK region, with prices up 0.2% over the year."

Many would argue that the strong property price growth in London is now spreading out to other areas, obviously reaching the rest of the South East, East Anglia and the Midlands first, before eventually forcing prices higher across the rest of much of the UK.