Top end of the market leads surge in house prices
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Chiswick property prices have surged to a new record high according to the latest numbers released by the Land Registry.
The average price of a home in W4 is now £468,269 which is up by a startling 16.7% from a year ago.
Much of the strength in the market can be attributed to strong demand for properties at the top end of the market. January saw record levels of million pound plus properties changing hands and, for the first quarter as a whole, 12 such homes were sold.
Chiswick appears to have missed out on a strong recovery in volumes across the London market which were up by over 40% in the first quarter. Local property transactions increased marginally to 178 over three months compared to 165 in the same period last year. This is well down on previous levels of activity in the market.
Stephen Rodgers from Local Independent Financial Advisers Berkeley Consultants believes that the lack of first time buyers in Chiswick demonstrates that this growth cannot be organic but is driven purely by activity such as City bonuses and further demand in the Let to Buy market. However he adds, "with total mortgage lending in the UK hitting the £1 trillion mark early next month, this activity is expected to keep pace into the summer, slowing down towards the third quarter of the year. "
Nick Finn of has a different take believe first time buyers are a factor and reports brisk demand for property that comes on the market with multiple offers on anything that is correctly priced and says this is what is driving prices up.
He told us, "We have a small two bed with 3 over asking price offers, and a house with 2 over asking price offers. It is the first time buyers that are driving the market on, 'fueling the fire', which means the 2nd time buyers can buy their next house, and the sellers of those houses can buy an even bigger house. There seems to be huge pressure for the sellers that are under offer to find quickly and they are therefore willing to pay a bit more for their next purchase as the price they have got for their sale may be higher than expected. "
The sharp rise in Chiswick prices was not mirrored across England and Wales which saw an increase of 5.1% over the year to reach an average of £192,745.
A total of 1,032 £1m-plus homes were sold in England and Wales during the first three months of this year - 58% more than a year ago - with 652 of these properties in London. In London the average property price increased by 6.29 per cent from £288,507 in 2005 to £306,661 for the same period in 2006. The volume of sales increased by 40.66 per cent from 20,788 in 2005 to 29,241.
The numbers quoted are based on Land Registry data from January to March 2006.
July 7, 2006