Chiswick at an all-time high beating previous best seen end of 2010

The latest property sales are showing that Chiswick property prices have moved to an new all-time high.

According to figures released by the Land Registry, the average property in Chiswick cost more than £680,000 in the first three months of this year. The previous highest quarterly average was in the third quarter of last year.

This is a 10.3% rise from the same quarter last year with 165 transactions taking place - up by 4.4%

Perhaps the most striking number is the average price of a property in the Bedford Park area (roughly speaking the W4 1 post code sector). This reached £985,685 based on 34 sales so far this year. The average price for a house (as opposed to a flat) in the area was well over a million.

House prices in London are now the only in the country that have risen compared with the same period last year. The Land Registry's House Price Index shows that the average price in the capital was £336,828 in March 2011 up by 0.8% compared to the same month last year.

For England and Wales the average price is now £160,996 down by 2.3% from March 2010. Prices in the north east have fallen by 9.3% and in Wales they are down by 7.2%.

"I am delighted to see that both London and Chiswick prices are holding their own," said OliverFinn's Christian Harper. "Whilst enjoying the latest results and very much adopting the saying 'make hay whilst the sun shines', I will say that this data might not completely reflect the real picture."

He is cautious because his firm have done exhaustive market research which is suggesting that the picture may be less postive than the headlines suggest. It has found that 408 properties have been placed on the market since 11th February 2011 using all of Chiswick's many estate agents yet only 76 are currently either under offer or sold.

He said, "These figures are very troubling compared to last year and does nothing but further secure my feeling that a high percentage of clients are being sold 'the dream' by estate agents hungry for business, that are unable to actually deliver. I hope to report a much higher conversation rate over the next quarter even if that means clients may be faced with tweaking their asking prices to actually achieve sales."

Andrew Dunford of Winkworth of Chiswick also expressed caution about just looking at average numbers particularly in an area like Bedford Park postcode which includes detached Grade II listed Norman Shaw houses as well as small flats in modest blocks and Edwardian terraces.

He said, "The overall trend of last quarter, however, is accurate: prices of houses (especially terraced houses) remained more buoyant than prices of flats - reflecting the fact that this is an immensely popular area for new families.

"These figures also track sales in what is, traditionally, a very quiet quarter made worse by unusually high levels of snow and miserable, icy weather. The real picture is only just starting to emerge and, so far, there are more buyers than sellers leaving people stuck because there is nothing for them to move into. People are registering to buy every day so anyone who has been thinking of moving should come and talk to us. We will give them a realistic valuation - for this market - and work hard to secure the very best deal possible."

W4 Property Prices - January - March 2011

Roughly speaking the post code sector areas are as follows:

1 - Bedford Park and the north side of the High Road

2 - The south side of the eastern end of the High Rd down to the river at Corney Reach

3 - The Grove Park area and over to Strand on the Green

4 - The west of Chiswick between the A4 and Chiswick High Rd - (a high concentration of flats)

5 - The north west of Chiswick - Acton Green mainly

May 15, 2011