Sales of 'Lion' Houses Help SW6 Property Market Shake Off Brexit Blues
Latest figures show strong demand for £3 million homes on Peterborough Estate
Penthouse at Chelsea Creek sold for £6 million
After months in the deepest freeze, the Fulham property market showed some signs of a thaw during the spring.
Agents say that this post-winter warm up is mostly down to buyers and sellers deciding to shake off the Brexit blues and get on their lives.
Although sales remained at low levels between April and June, the overall average price in SW6 rose by 15.1%, climbing back over the milllion mark to £1,125,225.
This rise was mainly driven by a strong demand for terraced houses, especially in the desirable area around the Hurlingham Club - including a house in Hurlingham Gardens which fetched £3 million - and 'lion' houses on the Peterborough estate.
The copious number of sandstone lions which decorate the red brick houses south of Parsons Green are said to be there due to an error by their builder, Jimmy Nicholls, accidentally adding an extra zero to his order and then having to find homes for them all!
The latest figures from the Land Registry show a number of homes in Studdridge, Quarrendon and Chipstead Streets changing hands for around £3million. A six bedroom lion house in neighbouring Bradbourne Street meanwhile achieved the highest price tag of £3,600,000.
In this second quarter of 2019, two new terraced houses also changed hands at Wedgewood Mews in the Bishops Gate development, for £1,900,000 and £1,780,000.
Five sales of new flats were also recorded, all at Cawthorn Apartments in Fulham High Street, a development which is proving popular due to its position close to the river and Bishops Park. Prices here ranged from £597,500 to £1,700,000.
And while no new sales were recorded at Imperial Road development Chelsea Creek, there were a number of pricey resales, including a four bedroom penthouse, pictured above, which changed hands for £6 million. This helped to push the average flat price up 10.8% to £757,990.
| Fulham Property Prices (April - June 2019) | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Area | Semi-det | Sales | Terraced | Sales | Flat/ mais |
Sales | Overall ave | Total sales |
| SW6 1 | 0 | 0 | 1108333 | 3 | 837643 | 7 | 918850 | 10 |
| SW6 2 | 0 | 0 | 1449286 | 7 | 810411 | 25 | 950165 | 32 |
| SW6 3 | 2800000 | 1 | 2339667 | 15 | 1022830 | 12 | 1791749 | 28 |
| SW6 4 | 2150000 | 1 | 1726700 | 5 | 547850 | 7 | 1124496 | 13 |
| SW6 5 | 0 | 0 | 1175000 | 4 | 643756 | 9 | 807215 | 13 |
| SW6 6 | 0 | 0 | 1514583 | 6 | 677230 | 14 | 928436 | 20 |
| SW6 7 | 0 | 0 | 1151000 | 13 | 474700 | 5 | 963139 | 18 |
| Total | 2475000 | 2 | 1621679 | 53 | 757990 | 79 | 1125225 | 134 |
| Change over quarter | - | - | 9.8% | 3.9% | 10.8% | -9.2% | 15.1% | -2.9% |
| Change over year | - | - | 4.2% | 6.0% | -6.1% | -30.1% | 6.3% | -19.8% |
| Change over three years | - | - | -8.2% | 12.8% | -12.2% | -56.4% | 5.0% | -42.0% |
| Change over five years | - | - | -0.6% | -35.4% | 7.4% | -58.0% | 4.3% | -51.8% |
| Change over ten years | - | - | 109.8% | -28.4% | 85.0% | -16.8% | 97.9% | -23.4% |
At the other end of the market, there was also some good news for first time buyers, with a healthy choice of flats priced under £400,000.
Lucy Pendleton, director of estate agents James Pendleton, says of the spring market: "While Brexit continues to hang over the property market like a dark, foreboding cloud, moving the EU exit date to October 31st has at least allowed the sun to shine on the London market momentarily.
"The extended period of Brexit limbo has immediately eased that frustration and activity has noticeably picked up over the past couple of months... more importantly many more buyers and sellers are showing real commitment and intent to complete transactions, which is something we haven't seen in a while."
Chesteron's spring report for London says: " Despite the sense of frustration at the inability
of politicians to bring Brexit negotiations to a
conclusion, we are seeing pent-up demand in
the higher value locations being released this
year as buyers are no longer prepared to put
their plans on hold.
"The shortage of available properties is limiting sales but we are seeing higher offers this year in many locations. If these trends continue this will filter through into higher sale prices, although any increases are likely to be minimal and will be felt in those locations where availability is lowest.
"Once Brexit is behind us, however, there is potential for a stronger bounce back as more pent-up demand is released."
According to the Nationwide House Price Index the average sale price in London was £465,722 down by 3.8% in the second quarter compared to the previous three months. Over the last year prices are down by 0.7% This is the eighth consecutive quarterly decline for London in a row. Moreover, prices in the capital are still only around 5% below the all-time highs recorded on Q1 2017 and c50% above their 2007 levels (by comparison, UK prices are only around 17% higher over the same period).
For the UK as a whole the average sale price was up by 0.4% over the last year to £215,910 with Northern Ireland seeing the strongest performance.
Commenting on the figures, Robert Gardner, Nationwide's Chief Economist, said, “Survey data suggests that new buyer enquiries and consumer confidence have remained subdued in recent months. Nevertheless, indicators of housing market activity, such as the number of mortgages approved for house purchase, have remained broadly stable.
“Housing market trends are likely to continue to mirror developments in the broader economy. While healthy labour market conditions and low borrowing costs will provide underlying support, uncertainty is likely to continue to act as a drag on sentiment and activity, with price growth and transaction levels remaining close to current levels over the coming months.”
The RICS UK Residential Market Survey for the second quarter concluded, “Although anecdotal commentary from respondents remains generally a little downbeat, contributors reported a rise in buyer demand, that new instructions have held steady, and that newly agreed sales also edged into positive territory for the first time in twenty-eight months.”
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August 9, 2019