According to the latest figures released by the
Land Registry the average price paid for a home in W4 in the fourth quarter of 2012 was over £702,518. This is up by 14.4% over the same period last year.
Christian Harper of Chiswick estate agent Oliver Finn told local news website
ChiswickW4.com: "It’s no surprise to see a rise in the average price in Q4 2012 as the trend would tend to continue against historical sales a few months before and as we all know Q3 2012 was a record breaker. This increase is certainly attributed to a lack of new stock in Q3 2012 causing buyers to ‘pay the price’ if they wanted to secure a new home.
Sellers market
"I am not disappointed that the average figure is lower than Q3 as the cyclical nature of the industry would expect to see less activity from October through to December.
"I very much look forward to seeing the results for Q1 2013 and expect that we will see yet another rise as new stock levels are poor compared to many previous years. Although I would love to say that OliverFinn is unique in selling 97% of all
new stock so far this year, I think its honest to say that all agents are enjoying a steady flow of new buyers with not much to sell them. I would definitely state that we are in a sellers market.
Mansion tax
"Homes around the £2m price tag are going to be interesting to watch. As politicians yet again start to talk about mansion taxes on property over £2m against reintroducing the 10p rate, I would expect sellers who are considering moving over the next few years to consider placingtheir houses on the market now at a slightly higher level rather than taking the risk of a new tax being introduced with a new parliament.
A mansion tax over £2m would undoubtedly create a larger divide. Let’s see if sellers take the medium term view and instruct agents in 2013 or continue living the dream of prices never falling in W4! "
Read the full report.