London house prices rise 4.2% in April

The average house price in London rose by 4.2 percent to 435,034 pounds (about 726,507 U.S. dollars) in April, the official data showed on Friday.
The annual change in the capital was up 17 percent in April, said the Land Registry, an executive agency and non-ministerial department which registers the ownership of land and property in England and Wales.
The overall data were much lower than those in London with a 1.5 percent monthly rise and 6.7 percent annual rise. The average house price in England and Wales was 172,069 pounds.
The most expensive sale in April was located in the London borough of Kensington and Chelsea which sold for 24 million pounds.
London's housing market, driven by increasing population and foreign investments, had raised concerns that a bubble was emerging.
Mark Carney, the governor of the British central bank, had described the booming housing market the "biggest risk" to financial stability and the long-term recovery.
But there were also some signs showing the London's housing market cooling down. New mortgage approvals fell for the third consecutive month in April, according to the British Banking Association.
Knight Frank, a residential and commercial property consultancy, revealed that the average number of daily applicants registered in May fell by a third versus the same month last year, the average number of viewings per property undertaken before an offer was made was 70 percent higher than last year, which showed a growing caution in the market.
"With the general election looming next year, which typically creates an air of uncertainty, we are expecting price growth in prime central London to fall to zero in 2015," the consultancy said. (1 pound = 1.67 U.S. dollars)