The cost of properties in Chiswick is at an all-time high as the average Bedford Park home edges towards £1m. The latest property sales show record property prices in W4.
According to figures released by the Land Registry, and reported in
chiswickw4.com the average property in W4 sold for more than £680,000 in the first three months of this year.
• This is a 10.3% rise from the same quarter last year with 165 transactions taking place - up by 4.4%.
• The average price of a property in the Bedford Park area (roughly speaking the W4 1 post code sector) reached £985,685 based on 34 sales so far this year.
• The
average price for a house in Bedford Park borders (as opposed to a flat) in the area was well over a million.
London is the only UK area where prices 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."
Reality does not match 'the dream'
Harper is cautious because his firm has completed exhaustive market research which implies the picture is less positive than the headlines suggest. The OliverFinn study of Chiswick’s many estate agents, has found that out of a total of 408 properties placed on the market since 11th February 2011, only 76 of these are sold or under offer.
"These figures are very troubling compared to last year. They underline my feeling that a high percentage of clients are being sold 'the dream', by estate agents hungry for business, yet they are unable to actually deliver. I hope to report a much higher conversion rate over the next quarter even if that means clients may be faced with tweaking their asking prices to actually achieve sales."
Read the
full article, including a postcode-by-postcode breakdown of W4 property prices from January - March 2011: Chiswick property - fourth quarter 2010.
