Hammersmith Flat Buyers Swap New for Old
Demand switches from developments to traditional properties close to town centre
Brook Green. Pic: Google maps
The latest figures from the Land Registry hold both good and bad news for estate agents in the Hammersmith area.
Between July and September, prices of properties at all levels slipped, with the overall average for W6 falling to £789,052 - down a seemingly catastrophic 25.2% on the same quarter in 2018.
This fall however is due to just one factor - the drying up of sales of new prime apartments. During the same three months last year, over 30 sales were recorded at Hammersmith's upmarket developments, many with multi-million price tags and one, a riverside penthouse in Fulham Reach being snapped up for £7,287,954.
A year later, just one sale was recorded at town centre development Sovereign Court between July and September, though there were a number of resales, including one flat in the development's Montpellier House which fetched £2,600,000.
The good news however is that the latest figures also confirm that there is still a brisk market in flats in Hammersmith, with sales up by 14.3% on the previous quarter.
Now though, the investors are being replaced by young people seeking their first or second homes in traditional properties close to town centre amenities and Hammersmith's numerous transport links.
Latymer Court in Hammersmith Road
As average prices in all five W6 postcode areas show, the majority of transactions had price tags somewhere between £450,000 and £650,000, while a number of small flats in Hammersmith's long established tried and trusted blocks such as Hamlet Gardens off King Street and Latymer Court in Hammersmith Road were sold for well under £300,000.
The market in houses remained subdued during the quarter, with just 23 sales of terraced homes recorded, representing a fall of 14.8% - though that figure may stil be boosted by late entries. Prices however, appear to be holding steady, with only a tiny 0.9% drop from the last quarter.
At the top of the market, the highest price achieved during the quarter was a five bedroom Victorian home in an enviable position overlooking Brook Green, which changed hands for £2,850,000.
| Hammersmith Property Prices - (July - September 2019) | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Area | Semi- Det |
Sales | Terraced | Sales | Flats/ Mais |
Sales | Overall Ave | Total Sales |
| W6 0 | 785000 | 2 | 1125777 | 10 | 654298 | 17 | 825891 | 29 |
| W6 7 | 1340000 | 1 | 2025500 | 2 | 534818 | 11 | 805286 | 14 |
| W6 8 | 0 | 0 | 952714 | 7 | 449875 | 5 | 743198 | 12 |
| W6 9 | 0 | 0 | 1119187 | 4 | 651325 | 15 | 749823 | 19 |
| Total | 970000 | 3 | 1150197 | 23 | 604694 | 48 | 789052 | 74 |
| Last quarter | -43.3% | 200.0% | -0.9% | -4.2% | -7.2% | 14.3% | -7.1% | 10.4% |
| Last year | -37.9% | 50.0% | -17.5% | -14.8% | -34.3% | -36.0% | -25.2% | -28.8% |
| Last three years | -53.0% | 200.0% | -12.4% | -23.3% | -1.8% | -48.4% | -0.9% | -40.3% |
| Last five years | -49.1% | -50.0% | -16.5% | -52.1% | 1.1% | -67.3% | -4.2% | -63.2% |
| Last ten years | - | - | 42.5% | -45.2% | 99.1% | -18.6% | 53.7% | -26.7% |
While agreeing that Brexit and the coming General Election are still casting a long shadoiw over London's property market, agents are already looking ahead to better times in 2020
Finlay Brewer's Teresa Brewer says: "Elections tend to create a short-term hiatus in house sales and we were interested to see the latest figures from Rightmove: The number of new sellers bringing their homes to the market is down 14.9% compared with this time last year. It is the biggest year-on-year slump in any month since August 2009. Added to the fact that Christmas is just around the corner, it is understandable that people are not focusing on selling their property right now.
"Uncertainty has meant a lot of people were already sitting on their hands when it came to moving home – they wanted to see what would happen before making a commitment. Three and a half years on from the referendum, they’re still waiting and every year this number grows. This is going to create a substantial amount of pent-up demand.
"The good news is, that once it’s all over, this demand could be released onto the spring market early… in February rather than March/April."
Dexter's Chief Executive Andy Shepherd meanwhile is encouraging people to take an even longer view, saying: " We expect property prices will increase a further 50% over the next 10 years as pent up demand from the growing population continues to outstrip the supply of housing. London’s shortage of homes has long been an area of focus, yet the London Plan’s yearly target of 65,000 new builds is not being met.
"The capital’s population is estimated to be almost 9 million people by the end of this year and with just over 3.5 million dwellings currently available, demand will only continue to increase and prices will naturally follow suit."
The Land Registry House Price Index for August 2019 shows that overall prices were down by 1.4% in London which made it the worse performing area in the UK. For the country as a whole the average price rose by 1.3% to £234,853.
The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors’ (RICS) August 2019 UK Residential Market Survey reported a flat trend in demand (new buyer enquiries) at the national level, following a few months in which enquiries had increased modestly. Newly agreed sales moved slightly further into negative territory. Alongside this, new instructions to sell were broadly unchanged for the third successive report.
The Bank of England’s Agents‘ summary of business conditions – 2019 Q3 reported that the housing market continued to soften, reflecting deteriorating supply and demand. Estate agents reported softer demand in the secondary market, though demand for lower-priced properties was more resilient.
The UK Property Transactions Statistics for August 2019 showed that on a seasonally adjusted basis, the estimated number of transactions on residential properties with a value of £40,000 or greater was 99,890. This is 0.9% higher than a year ago. Between July 2019 and August 2019, transactions increased by 15.8%.
The Bank of England’s Money and Credit release reported that mortgage approvals for house purchase (an indicator of future lending) decreased in August 2019 to 65,500. This is down from the previous peak seen in July 2019 of 67,000 but remained within the narrow range seen over the past 3 years.
Source: Land Registry
November 22, 2019