London home sellers shrug off election, raise asking prices

LONDON: London house prices rebounded in May, rising to a record as buyers and sellers defied the usual trend of holding off on property transactions before an election.

The average asking price in the city rose 2.1% from April to £649,864 ($846,000), property website Rightmove Plc said yesterday, even with the upcoming UK general election on June 8. The annual rate of growth remained subdued at 0.9% following a 1.5% drop last month. That was the biggest annual decline in almost eight years.