Shepherd's Bush Property Market Stays Slow and Steady

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But good news for first time buyers with affordable flats making a comeback

The property market in Shepherd's Bush remained slow and steady during the final quarter of 2017, with the Land Registry recording 78 properties changing hands - up by just 4% over the previous quarter and also the same period one year ago.

The overall average price was also stable, slipping just 2.3% from the previous quarter to £767,022.

Activity at the top of the market remained sluggish, with just one detached property being sold   - a house in Goldhawk Road priced £2,050,000 - and four semi-detached.

Lower down the market, the indications are that after years of ever rising prices, they are now levelling out. While terraced houses in Shepherd's Bush remain popular, with 30 sales recorded, the average price dropped by a fifth - 20.9% to be exact - to £1,043,200.

This trend was also evident when it came to flats, with a drop of 9.6% between October and December. This is because during these months, no sales were recorded of premium priced luxury apartments - instead, the flats changing hands were in traditional converted buildings or blocks, including ex-local authority.

The effect of this was that many of these flats came price tags of under £400,000 and some small flats dipping below the stamp duty threshhold of £300,000, including a studio flat in Mayfield Road in White City, pictured below, which was sold for £250,000.

This of course, is good news for young people in Shepherd's Bush aiming to take a first step onto the property ladder. And even better, this trend is set to continue in 2018, says local agent Lawson Rutter.

The company says on its regular E-Zine that while there was a slight fall in the number of first-time buyers in the market in the last year, this is now reversing in 2018. The agent says: "With last autumn’s budget virtually abolishing stamp duty for first-time buyers, I think we are very likely to see a significant up-tick and sales activity for that market.

"With about the same number of properties up for sale at any time, an upswing in demand from first-timers could see a knock-on effect throughout the marketplace."

 

According to the Nationwide House Price Index, property values in London as a whole fell for the first time in eight years during 2017 down by half a percent. This made it the weakest performing region of the country for the first time since 2004.

Across the UK the price of the average home rose by 2.6% to £211,156 with low mortgage rates and healthy employment growth supporting price. However, prices were held back by mounting pressure on household incomes and declining consumer confidence. Demand from buy to let investors was also held back by stamp duty and tax changes during the year.

The RICS, the professional body for surveyors, is predicting a further though slight reduction in sales this year and further price declines in the London area. They are not expecting these to be significant because of the lack of supply.

RICS UK Market Survey has recently shown buyer enquires stalling, sales volumes stagnating and sentiment turning altogether more cautious as a result in the final quarter of the year. They say stock on estate agents books close to all-time lows.

Tarrant Parsons, RICS Economist, commented, "Following a pretty lacklustre finish to 2017, the indications are that momentum across the housing market will be lacking as 2018 gets underway. With several of the forces currently weighing on activity set to persist over the near term, it's difficult to envisage a material step-up in impetus during the next twelve months. However, the fundamentals are not much changed from the end of 2017, so levels of activity should soften only marginally when compared to the year just ending. A real lack of stock coming onto the market remains one of the biggest challenges, while affordability constraints are increasingly curbing demand in some parts. Given these dynamics, price growth may fade to produce a virtually flat outturn for 2018.

"That said, despite the recent interest rate hike, mortgage rates are set to remain very favourable, with the prospect of further rises seemingly minimal over the coming year. Alongside this, government schemes such as help to buy should continue to provide some support to sales activity."

The numbers below are subject to revision as is it usual that some properties are added late to the Land Registry's database.

Shepherd's Bush Property Prices (October - December 2017)
Area	Detached	Sales	Semi-detached	Sales	Terraced	Sales	Flat/ mais	Sales	Overall Ave	Overall Sales
W12 0	0	0	585000	1	782000	13	393230	5	669324	19
W12 7	0	0	0	0	1290000	3	426344	8	661886	11
W12 8	2050000	1	0	0	1136000	5	459791	11	752217	17
W12 9	0	0	1870000	3	1286667	9	518532	19	872326	31
Total	2050000	1	1548750	4	1043200	30	471784	43	767022	78
Change over quarter	-	-	1.4%	-42.9%	-20.9%	87.5%	-9.6%	-17.3%	-2.3%	4.0%
Change over year	-	-	-10.0%	0.0%	-18.3%	30.4%	-12.0%	-10.4%	-7.2%	4.0%
Change over three years	-	-	25.4%	33.3%	21.0%	20.0%	0.5%	-33.8%	27.9%	-16.1%
Change over five years	-	-	149.1%	33.3%	25.2%	11.1%	36.7%	-31.7%	54.7%	-16.1%
Change over ten years	-	-	136.2%	-42.9%	84.6%	-18.9%	48.5%	-62.3%	92.8%	-50.9%

 

Source: Land Registry

March 22, 2018