The Big Chill Continues in 2016 for Fulham's Property Market

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With a drop in both prices and volume of sales early in the year

Fulham's property market continued to cool off in the frosty first three months of 2016, with prices falling and the volume of sales down - mainly due to the lack of flats changing hands.

The overall average price fell by a modest 2.9% from £1,124,412 between October and December to £1,078,996 between January and March.

Terraced houses also fell by 2.9% from £1,742, 138 in the previous quarter to £1,642,130.

The average flat price however fell from £813,530 to £694,086 - a drop of 14.3%.

Also alarming for local agents was the reduction in the number of sales - down by almost a half from 230 to 126. And again flats and apartments were hardest hit, down from 153 to 74.

This slowdown seems surprising, since there are two large developments in Fulham with apartments for sale at Lillie Square on Seagrove Road and Chelsea Creek on Imperial Road.

The top of the market also remained slow withthe highest priced sale so far this year is a six bedroom house on Broomhouse Road which went £3,010,000 - having previously been on the market for £3,350,000.

While these figures may seem bleak, the long term trend in Fulham is reassuring, with the overall average price up by 9.2% over the year and 111.2% over ten years.

Josh Woodfin of local estate agent Brik, says the slowdown has a number of reasons: " Many wealthy overseas buyers have been deterred by high house prices in London, a weak eurozone economy and the fact that the pound has strengthened significantly against the euro in the past year, making it even more expensive for many Europeans to buy property in the English capital.

" But how long will this slowdown last? While competition for property in and around Fulham may have cooled, correctly priced homes are still selling, reflecting the fact that there remain plenty of people actively buying, while there are still nowhere near enough homes available to cater for all would-be buyers’ needs. "

The Land Registry’s March data for London shows a 13.9% rise over the last year to £534,785. This is higher than any other part of the country and makes London average twice the average for any other part of the country including the South East.

Annual growth of 6.7% in March brings the average house price in England and Wales to £189,901.

The latest survey by the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) has revealed that growth in the private and public housing sectors in London slowed down considerably. Private housing workloads rose at their slowest pace since Q4 2012, with only 20% more of those working in the sector reporting a rise in activity rather than a fall over the first quarter of 2016. During the last quarter of 2015 that figure was 44 per cent.

This easing in the private housing sector has not been offset by any increase in the construction of public housing, with growth in this sector remaining broadly unchanged from the previous quarter, and just 11% more surveyors reporting a rise rather than a fall in activity.

RICS Chief Economist, Simon Rubinsohn said, “On the surface, it might seem surprising that we are witnessing a slowdown in the construction sector just a few months after hearing the Chancellor’s ‘We Are The Builders’ speech, given the Government’s significant commitment to this sector. One might well ask why growth in private housing workloads is softening at a time when policy is firmly focussed on the creation of new starter homes. We have long held the view that starter homes cannot be the only solution. There is an issue around the availability of land on which new houses can be built, and we would like to see more being done to free up private brownfield sites.

“Our survey tells us that planning delays are one of the biggest barriers to growth in the construction sector. We have recommended that councils work together to create a team of emergency planners who can parachute into boroughs that are experiencing significant delays, therefore reducing a major growth barrier.

“That said, we cannot discount the climate of uncertainty caused by the forthcoming EU referendum. We know that a range of sectors have been affected by these issues as investors look to delay.

A detailed listing of properties sold recently in the area will be appearing in a forthcoming edition of the Fulham newsletter.

 

Fulham Property Prices (January - March 2016)
Area	Semi-det	Sales	Terraced	Sales	Flat/ mais	Sales	Overall ave	Total sales
SW6 1	0	0	1518750	4	624000	8	922250	12
SW6 2	0	0	1568333	6	721150	20	916654	26
SW6 3	0	0	2049286	7	1184714	7	1617000	14
SW6 4	0	0	1889750	4	615536	14	898694	18
SW6 5	0	0	1852857	7	619279	7	1236068	14
SW6 6	842500	1	1539400	5	625245	10	924497	16
SW6 7	0	0	1427369	18	556187	8	1159313	26
Total	842500	1	1642130	51	694086	74	1078996	126
Change over quarter		-	-2.9%	-30.1%	-14.3%	-47.5%	-2.9%	-41.1%
Change over year		-	1.6%	2.0%	-1.3%	-33.9%	9.2%	-23.2%
Change over three years		-	13.2%	-49.5%	20.9%	-57.7%	18.0%	-54.8%
Change over five years		-	31.9%	-49.0%	63.8%	-51.9%	39.6%	-51.4%
Change over ten years		-	136.1%	-69.5%	108.0%	-64.8%	111.2%	-67.3%

May 20, 2016