Wandsworth Property Sales March 2012

Lack of interest in million pound plus homes drives down price average

A lack of activity at the top end of the Wandsworth property market appears to be depressing price levels in the local area.

Since the beginning of February 133 properties have changed hands according to the Land Registry at an average price of £477,240. Only three of those properties sold for over £1,000,000, a very low proportion compared to the normal trend in the area.

This has led to the overall average remaining below the half a million mark having briefly risen above that level during the winter months.

The most expensive property sold during the period was on Rosehill Road and went for £2,650,000.

The March data from Land Registry's flagship House Price Index shows an annual price decrease of 0.6% which takes the average property value in England and Wales to £160,372. London remains the best performing area in the country with prices rising by 0.7% to £343,522 over the same period although it is down on the previous month.

The most up-to-date figures available show that, during January 2012, the number of completed house sales in England and Wales increased by 13% to 42,511 compared to 37,584 in January 2011.

Allan Fuller, estate agent in the area for over 30 years, said: "Finding fact from statistics is a great job for politicians, they are the experts in picking out the figures that suit them to prove whatever theory they want to peddle. So I will try and not appear too much like a politician! The difficulty I find with information from a small window of activity in property is that there are so many factors that can play a part. The time of year is particularly relevant for larger house sales because usually vendors wait until spring to put them on the market, so the sales will not feature in reports until later in the year. So when analysing these figures bear in mind it is for a period when traditionally fewer sales at the upper end of the market are happening. It will be interesting to see, but I am sure that later reports in 2012 will show greater levels of activity in the upper level. Certainly in my office there is no lack of buyers keen to find large houses.

Allan continued:
" The good news locally is that more property is changing hands, values have recovered dramatically overall, and in many instances are back to, or even above levels at the end of the boom in 2007, which more than proves the immense popularity of the area, of course there will be fluctuations monthly in property, we are dealing with a commodity that in statistical terms provides a fairly small number of transactions, so a few more cheaper or more expensive sales will influence the result.

The real fact is that Wandsworth is a popular please to live, and is becoming increasingly so, London overall is a different economy to the rest of the UK, it is also attracting investment in property from so many corners of the globe as people see it as a safe haven from economic and political turmoil elsewhere, and sadly this is something that does not look like changing for a very long time.

So do not get concerned by a few months figures, property still is, and will continue to be long term the safest place to invest, and you can trust me, I’m not a politician!"

The latest reported sales are given in the table below.

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

Properties Sold in SW18 - March/April 2012

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

July 6, 2012