Dismissing concerns of glut as demand for new flats appears to collapse


Property on Chartfield Avenue sold for £3,045,000 in February 2018

The year so far has seen no recovery in the already stagnant property market in Putney. With only 103 property sales reported to the Land Registry in the SW15 post code area for the past three months. In 2014 the sales recorded for the same period was 282. In the same period last year there were 114 sales and an average price of £787905, so the average price has increased by a mere £18,191.

Demand for new build properties appears to have almost completely ground to a halt with only two sales reported by the Land Registry in this quarter. With a large number of units in the pipeline and many of these in developments without riverside views, but are built along the busy Upper Richmond Road which are more difficult to shift, there is a danger of a serious overhang of unsold inventory.

The poor sales numbers are also likely to be painful for local estate agents with too many players chasing too many commissions. However activity in larger family houses continues to be relatively robust with several sales of this type of property taking place at prices above £2million and one property for just over £3m being raised in the sale of a property in Chartfield Avenue which in 2010 had sold for £2,452,000.

Local agent Allan Fuller commented: "There is no doubt that sales are slower that 2014, however that year, particularly in the period up to August. We experienced a buying flurry of activity that year, often having an open house on a Saturday with 20 or more people viewing each property, then several offers on the Monday. It seemed that people saw others keen to buy and almost fever like followed suit. By the time we got to summer holidays took over and the latter part of the year was much more calm.

Conditions at the moment are of course different. but not quite so glum as it might at first appear. The reality for my company is that we have agreed 30% more sales so far this year compared to 2017. Its all about the price, vendors and agents who overprice property are left stranded, time and again we are proving that sensible pricing get real interest and sales result.

Allan continued: "The announcement on Thursday by the Bank of England that interest rates are not changing will encourage buyers to take advantage of some great mortgage deals available with the chance to future proof outgoings by fixing a good deal.

As for new properties the recent developed large blocks in Putney are long sold out, so naturally not in the statistics newer ones are getting activity but are too far off completing to be seriously marketed yet. So in the famous words of Corporal Jones, ‘Don’t panic’

According to the Nationwide House Price Index, property values in London as a whole fell by 1% in March compared with the same month last year. For the UK overall prices are up by 2.1% and the gap between the capital and the rest of the country has been slowly reduced over the last few months.

Commenting on the figures, Robert Gardner, Nationwide's Chief Economist, said: “Looking ahead, much will depend on how broader economic conditions evolve, especially in the labour market,
but also with respect to interest rates. Subdued economic activity and the ongoing squeeze on household budgets is likely to continue to exert a modest drag on housing market activity and house price growth this year."

Home ownership rates have declined across all English regions over the past decade. While the decline has been fairly uniform across regions, the biggest reduction has been in London, where the home ownership rate has fallen from 57% to 47%. The counterpart to this has been robust growth in the private rental sector; for example, 30% of households in London now rent.

The RICs say that their surveyor members report on balance an expectation of no price rises over the next 12 months representing the joint lowest reading since February 2013. Regionally, there continues to be significant variation in the house price indicator. London, exhibits the weakest feedback, with a net balance of -47% of respondents citing further price declines.

Copyright notice: All figures in this article are based on data released by the Land Registry. The numbers are derived from analysis performed by PutneySW15.com. Any use of these numbers should jointly attribute the Land Registry and PutneySW15.com.

May 11, 2018