Hammersmith House Prices Pause for Breath

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Volumes double as flats play catch up

The sharp surge in local property prices seems to have paused somewhat according to the latest data.

The average price of a home in the W6 area during the second quarter of the year fell by 9.2% compared to the previous quarter (which was the highest ever according to Land Registry figures). Gains seen in previous months have still resulted in prices being up by 26.4% compared with the same period in 2009.

Terraced house prices are up by 50% over the last year though this seems largely due to the average for 2009 being unrepresentative due to low volumes. The average terraced house in W6 now costs over £850,000.

Flats have performed better in recent months after lagging behind property prices during the recovery. Most notable is the increase in flat sale volumes so far this year which have risen by 123% Even so the number of flats changing hands is 40% down on the same period three years ago.

London overall experienced an increase of 12.2 per cent in June compared to last year. In comparison to this, the figure for England and Wales as a whole was currently 8.4 per cent. London’s house prices are now around the same levels they were three years ago.

London's monthly change brings the average house price there to £338,027, while the average for England and Wales is £166,072.

Looking ahead some analysts are not optimistic that the current price strength will be maintained.

Miles Shipside, commercial director of Rightmove, comments: “The number of new mortgages being approved each month is less than half the number of new sellers, with the imbalance being exacerbated by the increase of nearly 50% in the number of properties coming to market compared to a year ago. More aggressive pricing is now the order of the day, which means that conditions are ripe for a strong buyers’ market in the second half of 2010. This is likely to see the average price gains of 7% for the first half of the year wiped out by year-end, in line with Rightmove’s original forecast for the year of no net change in prices”.

Rightmove's price index which is based on offer prices rather than actual sales prices suggest that prices across the borough have retraced some of the gains seen earlier in the year. Despite this Hammersmith and Fulham remains the strongest performing borough over the last 12 months.

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

Hammersmith Property Prices -April - June 2010

Area	Semi-Det	Sales	Terraced	Sales	Flat/Mais	Sales	Total Ave	Total Sales
W6 0	1000333	3	843269	13	334772	20	573859	36
W6 7	0	0	1780000	5	336908	19	637552	24
W6 8	0	0	606753	14	296759	13	457497	27
W6 9	0	0	722750	8	415066	15	522087	23
Total	1000333	3	853476	40	345978	67	548369	110
Last quarter	-	-	-4.5%	-9.1%	4.0%	42.6%	-9.2%	20.9%
Last year	41.9%	0.0%	50.3%	81.8%	12.2%	123.3%	26.4%	100.0%
Last three years	-	-	18.2%	-25.9%	1.3%	-40.7%	18.0%	-34.1%

 

Hammersmith Property Prices - January - March 2010

Area	Terraced	Sales	Flat/Mais	Sales	Total Averages	Total Sales
W6 0	949021	16	347090	19	622258	35
W6 7	1210285	7	327666	9	713812	16
W6 8	653700	10	330175	6	532378	16
W6 9	831000	11	316230	13	552166	24
Total	893962	44	332675	47	604067	91
Last quarter	4.7%	57.1%	7.7%	-14.5%	22.6%	9.6%
Last year	25.2%	144.4%	15.2%	193.8%	17.6%	167.6%
Last three years	26.5%	-10.2%	9.6%	-50.5%	31.5%	-38.9%
Last five years	84.8%	33.3%	37.4%	6.8%	74.7%	18.2%

 

Source: Land Registry

 

August 19, 2010