Buyers Return to Wandsworth Despite 'Brexit Limbo'


Extended deadline prompts purchases to be completed before autumn

Wandsworth Property Market Experiencing Brief Respite
A detached house on Dorlcote Road on the Toastrack sold for just over £2.8 million
Image: Google Streetview

A beleaguered property market in the Wandsworth area saw some respite earlier this year due to the extension of the Brexit deadline.

The latest figures from the Land Registry show that the average property price in the SW18 postcode area was £755,845 in the second quarter up by 5.7% compared to the same period last year.

Local agents say that the delay in the departure of the UK from the EU from the originally scheduled date created a window of relative economic stability which allowed more sales to complete.

Coupled with the continuing desirability of the area, there appears to be a brief respite in the continuing dips in sold prices and sales volumes. According to the latest Which property analysis: "London still boasts nine of the ten local authorities with the most million-pound sales - with Westminster, Kensington and Chelsea and Wandsworth the top three areas."

Commenting on the Spring market Lucy Pendleton, director of estate agents James Pendleton, said: "While Brexit continues to hang over the property market like a dark, foreboding cloud, moving the EU exit date to October 31st has at least allowed the sun to shine on the London market momentarily.

"The extended period of Brexit limbo has immediately eased that frustration and activity has noticeably picked up over the past couple of months... more importantly many more buyers and sellers are showing real commitment and intent to complete transactions, which is something we haven't seen in a while."

At the very top end of the market only one detached house has sold in the quarter from April-June 2019, in Dorlcote road on the Toastrack. Its price tag of over £2.8 million for a substantial detached home complete with a newly built basement was relatively reasonable for its location and size, at just under £800 per square foot. Previous sales in the leafy street overlooking Wandsworth Common have reached well into the region of £900+ per square foot.

property for sale in Wandsworth SW18



Sales of semi-detached and terraced houses have held up in terms of sales volumes on the first quarter of 2019, but year-on-year the overall volume of sales of these types of homes remains static. Sold prices achieved for semi-detached house has fallen by 40 per cent year on year while terraced housing has achieved slightly higher sold prices during the period.

The volume of flats sold year-on-year has decreased by nearly 70 per cent since the same quarter last year, although this figure can often differ dramatically depending on the various release dates of the many new builds in the area. Prices achieved have fallen by around 16 per cent.

According to the Nationwide House Price Index the average sale price in London was £465,722 down by 3.8% in the second quarter compared to the previous three months. Over the last year prices are down by 0.7% This is the eighth consecutive quarterly decline for London in a row. Moreover, prices in the capital are still only around 5% below the all-time highs recorded on Q1 2017 and c50% above their 2007 levels (by comparison, UK prices are only around 17% higher over the same period).

For the UK as a whole the average sale price was up by 0.4% over the last year to £215,910 with Northern Ireland seeing the strongest performance.

Commenting on the figures, Robert Gardner, Nationwide's Chief Economist, said, “Survey data suggests that new buyer enquiries and consumer confidence have remained subdued in recent months. Nevertheless, indicators of housing market activity, such as the number of mortgages approved for house purchase, have remained broadly stable.

“Housing market trends are likely to continue to mirror developments in the broader economy. While healthy labour market conditions and low borrowing costs will provide underlying support, uncertainty is likely to continue to act as a drag on sentiment and activity, with price growth and transaction levels remaining close to current levels over the coming months.”

The RICS UK Residential Market Survey for the second quarter concluded, “Although anecdotal commentary from respondents remains generally a little downbeat, contributors reported a rise in buyer demand, that new instructions have held steady, and that newly agreed sales also edged into positive territory for the first time in twenty-eight months.”

If your agent is claiming to be marketing your property effectively and it doesn't appear on WandsworthSW18.com it may be time to choose a new agent.

The numbers below are subject to revision as is it usual that some properties are added late to the Land Registry's database.

Property Prices in Wandsworth SW18 (April - June 2019)
Area Detached Sales Semi-det Sales Terraced Sales Flat/
mais
Sales Overall average Total sales
SW18 1 0 0 945000 2 1119500 5 516508 28 627135 35
SW18 2 0 0 722500 2 1136996 13 520706 12 832386 27
SW18 3 2829000 1 1606833 6 1214273 11 479150 13 1034063 31
SW18 4 0 0 0 0 775750 6 449675 20 524923 26
SW18 5 0 0 1050000 2 927287 12 520167 12 748825 26
Total 2829000 1 1256333 12 1053562 47 496178 85   145
Change in quarter - - -28.7% -7.7% 5.6% -26.6% -5.3% -37.5% 0.0% -32.9%
Change in year - - -41.3% 20.0% 8.6% -29.9% -16.9% -69.4% 5.7% -59.3%
Change in three years - - 41.6% 500.0% 7.5% -24.2% -21.4% -50.3% 2.1% -38.8%
Change in five years - - -22.8% -14.3% 8.1% -56.9% -4.6% -70.9% 11.1% -65.2%
Change in ten years - - 39.1% -14.3% 94.8% -29.9% 80.1% -36.6% 89.4% -32.6%

 

Copyright notice: All figures in this article are based on data released by the Land Registry(© Crown copyright 2019). The numbers are derived from analysis performed by wandsworthsw18.com. Any use of these numbers should jointly attribute the Land Registry and wandsworthsw18.com.

August 7, 2019