Riverside Apartments Continue to Boost W6 Property Market

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While houses across Hammersmith suffer from winter slowdown

The soaring prices of apartments in upmarket new developments continued to drive the property market in Hammersmith during the last three months of 2015.

In this period, traditionally a quiet one for estate agents in the run-up to Christmas, overall sales were down by 15.4% from 130 in the previous quarter to 110.

As with other local areas, it was the most expensive houses which were the slowest movers, with just one detached and two semi-detached houses changing hands.

Terraced houses also suffered with a drop in both the number of sales, from 35 to 24 and the average price, down 12.6% from a record high of £1,530,484 in the previous quarter to £1,336,888.

But while the volume of flat sales also fell from 91 to 83, the average price rose by 5.7% from £668,453 to £706,818.

A closer look at the figures show that this jump was mainly due to the rising average price on just one postcode area - W6 9, which includes riverside developments Fulham Reach and Queen's Wharf. While the average showed only a small rise in Hammersmith's three other areas in W6 9 it leapt from £778,748 during the previous three months, to £1,017,250.

And this looks set to continue in 2016, with apartments available in Mount Anvil's Queen's Wharf priced from £715,000 for one bedroom to £2,700,000 for three and all apartments currently available at Fulham Reach priced well above one million pounds. Meanwhile an apartment in Distillery Wharf, Regatta Lane - part of Fulham Reach - holds the record for Hammersmith's highest priced property at £8,140,000.

The lack of movement among high value houses
meant slight fall in the overall average price in Hammersmith from £930,740 to £898,647. This means over the year, the average has slipped by 8.3%. However, looking at the longer term picture, the average has risen by 25% over three years and 56.2% over five.

The average price of a flat meanwhile has risen by 75.5% in the last five years while the average terraced house rose by 76.6%.

Property prices across London rose by 12.4% in 2015 according to the Land Registry bringing the average price of a home in the capital up to £514,097. This was the highest rate of increase in the country.

The average property value in England and Wales was up by 6.4% £188,270. Monthly house prices rose by 1.2% since November 2015.

Sales and repossessions during October 2015, the most up-to-date figures available, show that the number of repossessions in London fell by 71%

The London housing market has seen a fall in newly agreed sales for a third month in a row according to the latest RICS UK Residential Market Survey. Despite an increase in demand across the capital 2% more surveyors have seen a fall in newly agreed sales over the last month, adding to the picture from October and November.

Their report for December 2015 has shown that demand for new properties has reached a three-month high, with Chartered Surveyors citing a rush to beat April’s stamp duty rise as the reason.

From April, buy-to-let investors will be required to pay 3% more in stamp duty charges than residential buyers looking to purchase the same home. Since the Chancellor announced these measures in the Autumn Statement last November, 10% more Chartered Surveyors in London reported a rise in new buyer enquiries but with new instructions flat prices are continuing to rise - average sales per surveyor are at just half of what they were in June 2014.

RICS Chief Economist, Simon Rubinsohn said: "The housing market has experienced an unusually buoyant December. Those in the industry have been speculating that this is the result of the Chancellor’s announcement last November. Potential buy-to-let investors are looking to pick up properties before the increased stamp duty levy comes into force in April. If that is the case, then we can expect to see the housing market heating up further over the next few months."

The survey also predicted that house prices in London look set to rise by a further 5% per annum in each of the next five years, compared to a UK average of 4.5%, with 57% of contributors in the capital believing that property was either ‘expensive’ or ‘very expensive’.

A net balance of 25% of respondents reported that London house prices had risen since November, substantially lower than the national average of 50%, however price expectations remained strong with a 30% more London surveyors predicting a rise rather than fall in prices over the coming three months.

Hammersmith Property Prices (October - December 2015)
Area	Detached	Sales	Semi- detached	Sales	Terrace	Sales	Flat/ mais	Sales	Overall Ave	Overall Sales
W6 0	2800000	1	2650000	2	1392500	10	584262	21	1008662	34
W6 7	0	0	0	0	3150000	1	550278	18	687105	19
W6 8	0	0	0	0	940883	6	466077	15	601736	21
W6 9	0	0	0	0	1337857	7	1017250	29	1079590	36
Total	2800000	1	2650000	2	1336888	24	706818	83	898647	110
Last quarter	47.4%	0.0%	69.1%	-33.3%	-12.6%	-31.4%	5.7%	-8.8%	-3.4%	-15.4%
Last year	460.0%	0.0%	13.9%	-50.0%	-1.4%	-27.3%	-13.1%	-20.2%	-8.3%	-22.5%
Last three years					24.4%	-27.3%	70.2%	45.6%	36.8%	22.2%
Last five years			108.0%	-33.3%	32.7%	-38.5%	94.0%	33.9%	42.3%	5.8%

 

Hammersmith Property Prices (July-September 2015)
Area	Detached	Sales	Semi- detached	Sales	Terrace	Sales	Flat/ mais	Sales	Overall Ave	Overall Sales
W6 0	1900000	1	1825000	2	1428500	11	561372	27	888306	41
W6 7	0	0	0	0	2618333	6	553000	12	1241444	18
W6 8	0	0	0	0	1073883	9	487000	5	864282	14
W6 9	0	0	1050000	1	1386500	9	778748	47	879468	57
Total	1900000	1		3	1530484	35	668453	91	930740	130
Last quarter	64.3%	-50.0%	16.0%	200.0%	22.2%	2.9%	8.8%	8.3%	15.1%	7.4%
Last year			-17.8%	-50.0%	11.1%	-27.1%	11.8%	-38.1%	13.0%	-35.3%
Last three years			29.1%	0.0%	21.7%	-18.6%	67.2%	33.8%	25.0%	14.0%
Last five years			25.2%	-40.0%	76.6%	-28.6%	75.5%	18.2%	56.2%	-0.8%

Source: Land Registry

February 19, 2016