Larger homes driving forward the North-West London property market

The ‘race for space’ continues to drive forward demand for homes in North-West London, particularly in areas such as Hampstead, Highgate and Dartmouth Park.  The residential property market remains strong and enquiry levels are high, despite wider economic concerns about the energy crisis and rising inflation.

Large family homes with gardens and large garden flats with outside space are in very high demand and prices are remaining firm as demand continues to outstrip supply of this type of property in outer prime London.

At the upper end of the market, buyers looking for premium properties tend to have much larger deposits and may be buying with just a small mortgage, or they may be cash buyers, so economic pressures such as mortgage interest rate rises have far less impact.

With so many enquiries coming in we remain short of stock of family homes and apartments.  We’re achieving good selling prices for our clients but we desperately need more stock.

Current demand shows no signs of slowdown

Typically, the most sought-after properties are achieving guide price or over and there is little room for buyers to negotiate, so it seems that the boom in demand caused by the pandemic is not yet showing any signs of slowing down.  If we receive multiple offers on a property, which is quite common, we usually receive several offers above the guide price and eventually go to ‘best and final’ bids. In fact, we’ve just agreed a sale on a maisonette in Hampstead – a four bedroom property in excellent condition – it went to best and final bids, achieving over the guide price of £2.5m.

We’ve also just agreed the sale of an unmodernised property in Hampstead Garden Suburb – the first time the property had been on the market in over 50 years.  We received multiple offers and eventually it too went to ‘best and final’ bids – we agreed a sale for over the £2m guide price. And another sale agreed of an additional unmodernised property – a garden flat in Primrose Hill, which has fetched more than 15% above the guide price.

Accurate valuations are essential

Despite buoyant demand for homes in North–West London, accurate, up-to-date valuations are essential to attract serious buyers.  Buyers recognise that the market is competitive but they also research the market in detail so they know the prices that similar properties nearby are achieving.  If properties are overpriced, they won’t attract the same level of interest.  This makes realistic pricing essential.

First and second time buyers looking at smaller properties – one and two bed flats – are more likely to be experiencing affordability problems as budgets are tighter and interest rate rises and inflation are more of an issue.  So demand for these homes is more price sensitive and accurate valuations are even more important.

Continuing high demand for homes in Colindale and Hendon

Our Beaufort Park branch in Colindale also continues to see strong demand from homebuyers, particularly for larger properties – three bed houses especially.  Enquiry levels remain extremely high and transaction levels have remained steady throughout the year to date. Hong Kong buyers dominate the market – they have good budgets and are usually cash buyers, ideally looking for a house.

And of course, new developments such as Beaufort Park and Colindale Gardens are extremely popular with London’s renters so there is also a lot of interest from investors, mainly introduced to us via our international offices. We’re taking on new instructions regularly at these and other sought-after developments but we always need more stock to meet demand.  Typically two bed apartments are achieving £500-£550k and three bed apartments £600-£650k.  We have a number of buyers interested in purchasing here as soon as possible and are hoping to attract new instructions to help meet demand.

Contact us for a free market appraisal of your North-West London property

We are short of properties of all types across North-West London and we are achieving good prices for our clients.  So if you would like to know how much your property could be worth, please get in touch with our sales teams or talk to me. We are always happy to answer any questions you may have or provide a free market appraisal of your property.