Tuesday, March 9, 2010
12 of the UK's 20 most expensive streets in Kensington & Chelsea
House price and property valuation website MousePrice.com have released their annual list of the UK's most expensive streets, organised by region and then collated into one list for the country as a whole. Somewhat surprisingly (I would have thought there would be some expensive addresses somewhere else in the country!), the UK's top 20 most expensive streets for 2010 is merely a replicated list of London's priciest streets. Of course, the data is based on prices actually paid for properties taken from the Land Registry with an attempt to calculate current values accordingly; I assume there must be some upmarket streets out there in the UK which simply don't have a high turnover of owners!
As with the title of this post, 12 of the UK's top 20 priciest streets are based in the Royal Borough of Kensington & Chelsea. These streets are located in the SW3, W8 and W14 postcodes - none are in the W11 postcode that encompasses much of Notting Hill!
The Kensington & Chelsea streets featured in the list are:
- Carlyle Square, SW3 ranked 4th (with an average property value of £5,625,100)
- Cottesmore Gardens, W8 ranked 5th (£5,503,500)
- Essex Villas, W8 ranked 7th (£5,121,900)
- Ilchester Place, W14 ranked 9th (£5,099,300)
- Victoria Road, W8 ranked 10th (£5,007,300)
- Chelsea Square, SW3 ranked 12th (£4,913,400)
- The Vale, SW3 ranked 13th (£4,905,900)
- Eldon Road, W8 ranked 14th (£4,893,000)
- Albert Place, W8 ranked 17th (£4,669,400)
- Thornwood Gardens, W8 ranked 18th (£4,558,800)
- Upper Phillimore Gardens, W8 ranked 19th (£4,535,900)
- Douro Place, W8 ranked 20th (£4,510,000)
The most expensive street in London - and therefore the most expensive street in the country - remains Chester Square in SW1, with the average value of a property there reaching £6,596,000.
The full report can be read here: MousePrice.com's Annual Street Rankings 2010 (PDF file)
Labels: Property
Wednesday, March 3, 2010
Kensington & Chelsea property news roundup
Barely a week goes by without more news and stats about the property market in London and, given the affluent status of the borough, most mention Kensington & Chelsea! Here's a roundup of some recent news:
- Easier Property reports on a recent Primelocation.com study which reviewed the size of properties that £1 million gets you. Unsurprisingly, London came up with the smallest properties in the country, with Kensington & Chelsea the "worst" value. A £1 million property here will only get you 1,443 square feet; by comparison, a million pound home in Liverpool will stretch to 4,000 square feet in size.
- In related news, £1 million properties have seen a recovery for a number of areas of the capital, including Kensington & Chelsea. Your Mortgage report that, overall for London, the number of properties sold in this price bracket rose by 2% in 2009, whilst in Kensington & Chelsea this figure stood at 11%.
- Meanwhile, Businessweek reports on data compiled by estate agency Knight Frank, who say that the value of properties above the £1 million mark in London have risen in value by 3.2% from January to February, and by 17% from February 2009 to the same month this year. Knight Frank takes its data from a number of wealthy neighbourhoods in London, including Kensington & Chelsea; prices for these areas are still below their peak, though their rise is fueled by a shortage of properties by strong demand from buyers, particularly foreign buyers who are attracted by the current weak Pound. The same article also states that developers are being brought by this upward trend in the property market; new "construction starts" increased by 43% between July and December 2009 in Kensington & Chelsea.
- Nothing to do with £1 million homes (well, maybe not...or maybe?!) Country Life points out that almost 8% of properties in the Kensington & Chelsea are "second homes" (i.e. pied a terres and similar) which apparently equates to 7,000 properties in the area.
Labels: Property
Wednesday, January 13, 2010
Latest property news for Kensington & Notting Hill
There's been a number of recent articles in the press on everyone's favourite topic - property prices - and what they're doing in the borough of Kensington & Chelsea and Notting Hill.
The latest article is published in today's Evening Standard. House prices have risen by 51% in the "bonus belt" - areas of London that are favoured by city bankers (and international buyers), such as Kensington and Notting Hill - during the tail-end of last year. This follows the property slump that was at its worst in February and means that house prices have now, supposedly, surpassed the peak of 2007 with some properties even going for record prices.
Whilst some may feel that trying to predict what house prices will do next is a bit like sticking your finger in the air, such articles show one quite important thing. Areas such as Kensington and Notting Hill will always be popular with a wide variety of buyers because they're such prime areas of London. Any general slump in the property market will of course have an effect in Kensington, but in other ways than prices being completely slashed - such as a lack of supply as people hold on to their properties, waiting for an upturn in prices. (Or, I suppose, an offer they can't refuse.)
Just before Christmas, it was also revealed that one of the most expensive streets in the country is Wycombe Square, W8 - which is, in fact, just south of Notting Hill Gate. Whilst I don't doubt it's an incredibly expensive "street", with an amazingly pricey collection of properties, the new-build nature of this gated community isn't exactly your average British road. (And not just because of property prices.) This information comes from a report by Halifax, and is based on property sales between 2005 and 2009. A number of other streets in the borough of Kensington & Chelsea are also on the list (of 20 streets), although I can think of many more streets in the area that should be on the list. (The Boltons in Chelsea and the surrounding streets? The mansions of Holland Park? What about "Embassy Row" - Kensington Palace Gardens - where properties go for £50 - £80 million?!) I guess those were streets in which people didn't sell during this time period; once you've bought, how can you possibly trade up?
Labels: Property
Friday, October 23, 2009
High end Notting Hill property is selling again
Yesterday's Evening Standard reported that recent resurgance of big, fat bank bonuses has cause property prices to rise in some prime London areas - including Kensington and Notting Hill, and other upmarket parts of the capital such as Holland Park and Chelsea.
The resurgence means that a number of properties in some prime streets are selling for above asking price, with some sales even going to sealed bids. One estate agency reports that prices in these areas have risen by 8% in the last six months. Interest has also risen, with many more buyers - particularly those that work in the City - being registered as new applicants.
All in all, it's a little bit of a skewed report. It shows that top end flats and houses are popular once more, depsite that fact that, as with so much of the property market, such properties had such a tough time of it in the past year or so (with prices either slashed massively to sell, or languishing on the market for an incredibly long time). What the article really shows, however, is that bankers are back. With their bonuses. And that they're not afraid to spend them.
Article: Return of bank bonuses fuels a new surge in house prices (22nd October 2009, Evening Standard)
The resurgence means that a number of properties in some prime streets are selling for above asking price, with some sales even going to sealed bids. One estate agency reports that prices in these areas have risen by 8% in the last six months. Interest has also risen, with many more buyers - particularly those that work in the City - being registered as new applicants.
All in all, it's a little bit of a skewed report. It shows that top end flats and houses are popular once more, depsite that fact that, as with so much of the property market, such properties had such a tough time of it in the past year or so (with prices either slashed massively to sell, or languishing on the market for an incredibly long time). What the article really shows, however, is that bankers are back. With their bonuses. And that they're not afraid to spend them.
Article: Return of bank bonuses fuels a new surge in house prices (22nd October 2009, Evening Standard)
Labels: Property
Wednesday, June 10, 2009
Celebrity property in Notting Hill
Ever wondered quite a swish celebrity pad in Notting Hill looks like? Well, here's your chance. Model Elle Macpherson's house is currently on the market, at an asking price of £7.5 million - got any spare change, dear readers? The poor supermodel has suffered a fate similar to many vendors in the Notting Hill area in recent times, and had to reduce the asking price of the house by a rather hefty £2 million since it was first put on the market last summer.
The luxurious 5,465 square foot (508 square metres) pad, spread over seven floors, has six bedrooms; seven bathrooms; a drawing room and a TV room; a study AND and office (I guess Elle must work extra hard to need both); a dining room AND a dining area (well, one does need lots of space to entertain), and a garden as well as a separate terrace. No evidence of a lift, though: perhaps that's how Elle keeps so trim, running up and down the seven floors in her house.
The luxurious 5,465 square foot (508 square metres) pad, spread over seven floors, has six bedrooms; seven bathrooms; a drawing room and a TV room; a study AND and office (I guess Elle must work extra hard to need both); a dining room AND a dining area (well, one does need lots of space to entertain), and a garden as well as a separate terrace. No evidence of a lift, though: perhaps that's how Elle keeps so trim, running up and down the seven floors in her house.
- Elle Macpherson drops asking price of Notting Hill home by £2m after failing to find a buyer (Daily Mail, 9th June 2009)
Labels: Celebrities, Property
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