Shepherd's Bush Property Market Does the Splits
Sales range from bargain buys in White City to £5 million flat in Television Centre
Television Centre flats continuing to prove popular with buyers
Like our area itself, the Shepherd's Bush property market appears to be developing something of a split personality, with sales during the final quarter of 2019 ranging from multi-million pound luxury apartments in the hugely popular Television Centre development to first time bargain buys on the nearby White City Estate.
The highest priced apartment at the former BBC TV centre in Wood Lane changed hands in October for just under the five million mark at a record for W12 of £4,964,841.
Land Registry figures also recorded 22 other transactions at Television Centre, all with prices between £1 million and £2 million, both in the central Helios and the Crescent, where flats have terraces or balconies overlooking either the gardens, as shown above or Hammersmith Park, below.
These price levels show no sign of dropping in future, with penthouses now available at the iconic development for £7 to £8 million.
At the other end of the market, Shepherd's Bush continues to be a haven for first timers and buyers with smaller wallets. This applies both to flats, around 20 sales recorded under £400,000, including some dropping below £250,000, and also to terraced houses.
While it's rare to find houses in surrounding areas for less than £1 million, around ten changed hands in Shepherd's Bush for well under that level, including a terraced home in Oaklands Grove which fetched £535,000.
The popularity of these low priced properties meant that the overall average in Shepherd's Bush slipped to £843,035 during the final quarter of 2018 - down by 6.2% over the previous but still up 9.6% on the same period the previous year.
Local agents Kerr & Co admit that the current feeling of uncertainty at Brexit approaches is hampering the property market, adding: " Without a crystal ball, no one really knows what will transpire at 23:00 on 29th March 2019. However what we do know from our 30 plus years’ experience, a high proportion of buyers will not be put off making their house move. The simple fact remains that everyone needs somewhere to live, there is still a shortage if good quality housing and the fundamental reasons for people having to move have and will not change.
"Despite the ongoing debate, London is still considered to be a stable international city supported by a globally leading financial community. Areas such as Shepherd’s Bush and Hammersmith offer prime property hot spots, a world class cultural and retail environment, together with top schooling to add to its attraction, and for us who work and live here, a thoroughly enjoyable place to live and work."
UK house prices grew by 2.5% in the year to December 2018. This is the lowest annual growth for the UK since July 2013. London property prices fell marginally over the year with only the North East also seeing a decline.
Tom Bill, Partner and Head of London Residential Research at Knight Frank said, "The influence of political uncertainty on the prime London property market has grown markedly in the last six months. In the first half of 2018 there were signs the market was beginning to rally as asking prices adjusted more fully to reflect higher transaction costs.
"However, with Brexit uncertainty persisting ahead of the UK’s planned departure from the EU, sales volumes in prime outer London were down by 10% year-on-year in January and the annual price decrease widened to 4.6%.
"Identifying individual factors affecting the performance of the prime London property market can be a complex task but the impact of political uncertainty was decisive during 2018. Indeed, economic sentiment indicators displayed a similar trend. The Lloyds business barometer began the year with a reading of 35% in January but had fallen to 17% by December.
"However, there are signs that pent-up demand is building. The number of new prospective buyers registering rose by 5% across prime London markets in 2018. Indeed, the ratio of new demand to new supply rose to 4.9 in the final quarter of 2018, the highest level in four years.
While it is unknown when the current level of political uncertainty will recede, the conditions for a recovery in the London property market appear to be taking shape.
Robert Gardner, Nationwide's Chief Economist, said ““Indicators of housing market activity, such as the number of property transactions and the number of mortgages approved for house purchase, have remained broadly stable in recent months, but forward-looking indicators had suggested some softening was likely.
“In particular, measures of consumer confidence weakened in December and surveyors reported a further fall in new buyer enquiries towards the end of 2018. While the number of properties coming onto the market also slowed, this doesn’t appear to have been enough to prevent a modest shift in the balance of demand and supply in favour of buyers in recent months.”
The Bank of England’s Agents’ summary of business conditions for 2018 Q4 reported that along with low supply of houses, demand was also falling. Housing activity in southern England was muted due to uncertainty, with transactions postponed until after the EU withdrawal. The demand for new build houses remained stronger outside London, in part due to housebuilders offering more incentive to finalise sales.
The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors’ (RICS) UK Residential Market Survey for December 2018 reported that new buyer enquiries fell for the fifth month in a row. This fall in demand was accompanied by a lack of fresh stock coming into the market as the survey’s indicator on new instructions remained in negative territory for the sixth report in a row.
The UK Property Transactions Statistics for December 2018 showed that on a seasonally adjusted basis, the number of transactions on residential properties with a value of £40,000 or greater was 102,330. This is 3.6% higher than a year ago. Between November 2018 and December 2018, transactions fell by 0.1%.
The Bank of England’s Money and Credit latest release showed that mortgage approvals for house purchases (an indicator of future lending) were around 63,800 in December, unchanged from November, but slightly below their 2018 average of around 65,200.
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 2018) | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Area | Semi-detached | Sales | Terraced | Sales | Flat/ mais |
Sales | Overall Ave | Overall Sales |
| W12 0 | 665000 | 1 | 701875 | 8 | 526000 | 5 | 636429 | 14 |
| W12 7 | 0 | 0 | 1083750 | 2 | 1057804 | 50 | 1058802 | 52 |
| W12 8 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 428102 | 22 | 428102 | 22 |
| W12 9 | 0 | 0 | 1288333 | 9 | 486750 | 9 | 887542 | 18 |
| Total | 665000 | 1 | 1019868 | 19 | 806037 | 86 | 843035 | 106 |
| Change over quarter | -36.4% | -75.0% | -2.9% | -32.1% | -5.9% | -25.9% | -6.2% | -28.4% |
| Change over year | -57.1% | -75.0% | -5.3% | -40.6% | 41.7% | 21.1% | 9.6% | -1.9% |
| Change over three years | -66.0% | -80.0% | -2.9% | -42.4% | 44.5% | 11.7% | 11.0% | -7.8% |
| Change over five years | -19.6% | -88.9% | 17.7% | -34.5% | 110.6% | -8.5% | 59.8% | -20.3% |
| Change over ten years | - | - | 57.5% | 5.6% | 193.3% | 160.6% | 107.5% | 107.8% |
Source: Land Registry
March 4, 2019
