London house prices: the hottest million pound postcodes where homes sell fastest
London is well known for its lovely, leafy enclaves, many of them once home to artists, squatters or even ordinary middle class families.
Nowadays the very loveliest of these postcodes have average house prices well above the £1 million mark and homes snapped up by a select crowd of wealthy buyers from London and all over the world, drawn to prestigious private schools, private gardens and historic architecture.
That said, in the current prime London property market, which has found itself stifled by tax changes and a bumpy political landscape in recent years, homes in some areas are being snapped up more quickly than in others.
The hottest prime market in London is Hampstead, where homes took an average of 79 days to sell, compared with Bayswater, where the average was 191 days.
Properties in St John’s Wood took an average of 149 days, Chelsea 130 days, Kensington 128 days, Notting Hill 114 days and Battersea 97 days.
However, while Hampstead properties sold fastest, highlighting its popularity, their asking prices were reduced by the biggest percentage.
It may be cause-and-effect with impatient sellers reducing their asking prices and driving quick sales, but the average price reduction in Hampstead was £305,220 or 11.3 per cent, compared to £200,000 across the whole of prime London.
The area is traditionally very family-centric so term dates may play a role here, with families keen to tie in moves to the start of the new school year or the schools’ application deadline.
Indeed in the latest Bridget Jones film we find the heroine now bringing up her children as a single mum on the leafy streets of NW3.
Fulham, the second fastest-selling postcode where homes took 87 days to sell, saw the smallest prices reductions, with 7.5 per cent knocked off their asking prices, equivalent to £150,710.
As well as being the ‘stickiest’ market for property sales, Bayswater also saw the second biggest percentage reductions after Hampstead. In W2, prices were reduced by £261,080 or 10.5 per cent on average.
“Now is the time for buyers to take advantage of some significant price reductions and take the opportunity to secure a prime property in some of London’s most desirable areas with reductions of over £300,000 being seen in some postcodes,” said Carlos Mendes, private banker at Investec.
“However, for sellers, it’s essential that they recognise that not all areas move at the same pace, and pricing strategies need to be flexible if they want to secure a sale.”
The data also suggested that buyers willing to tweak their location criteria could get more for their money.
Chelsea might have Sloane Square, The Royal Court and Harrods but neighbouring Fulham is significantly less expensive. Chelsea’s SW3 postcode is the priciest in prime London at £1,934 per square foot, while a few streets along, in SW6, you’ll pay £1,155 per square foot, nearly £800 less.
Similarly a move across the river to Battersea, with its power station, park and river walks, would see property values reduced to £1,255 per sq ft.
“London offers exceptional value for money for those willing to look just a few roads away from their target postcodes, with prime property often hundreds of pounds cheaper per square foot,” said Mr Mendes.
