Chiswick Director Paul Cooney takes a closer look at the numbers and shares local insights of use to buyers and sellers in W4
The Chiswick property market has continued to be busy through the first three months of 2021 with notable buyer trends and obvious supply and demand issues in parts of the market.
With the Chiswick office remaining in the top three of all W4 selling agents for the number of homes sold so far in 2021, Paul can competently provide well-informed guidance and clarity on what’s happening in the Chiswick property market.
What’s happened in the Chiswick property market so far in 2021?
Largely driven by the available saving from the Stamp Duty holiday, buyers continued to be out in high numbers in the first few weeks or 2021 rushing to secure homes and complete transactions before the end of March deadline.
And whilst the extension of the temporary reduction in Stamp Duty Land Tax is welcomed by all buyers this has not been the greatest driver of buyer demand for property in Chiswick.
Yes, a garden has been a popular ‘top three’ requirement over the past 12 months but ultimately space is the key. Buyers want houses.
Of the 500 or so buyers who’ve registered with Horton and Garton so far this year, almost 80% of those searching in W4 have a budget of £1million or more. The market is busy, and the demand is for bigger homes.
If you’re interested to know what £1million will buy you in Chiswick read our recent blog.
Why Chiswick?
As those already living in Chiswick will know, it is a particularly green and leafy suburb which is amongst the reasons it saw its popularity grow in 2020.
In fact, one report found it to be the second most in demand area in the whole of London for buyers seeking properties at over £2million in value.
Buyers need little convincing; the green space, the top schools, the shops and restaurants, the community, there is a very long list of reasons why Chiswick is one of the most popular places to live in London.
It’s really of little surprise that many aren’t moving to leave Chiswick and that we’re short of properties for sale.
Where buyers are queueing round the corner to view the latest (correctly priced) house that’s available to buy, sellers are sat pondering if they really want to leave.
What’s the outlook for the Chiswick property market?
With so many factors at play it’s becoming increasingly difficult to predict what lies ahead. This said, we can look at the factors that will have an impact on the Chiswick property market over the coming months.
There are clear deadlines set out through the rest of the year regarding the UK’s return to normality post-pandemic, many of which serve as deadlines for those buyers keen to take advantage of the stamp duty holiday and provide an idea of when we should expect shifts in the property market.
The current reduction in tax is only having a limited impact on the Chiswick market as the average selling price in W4 is well over £1million meaning the overall reduction in applicable taxes isn’t huge, though it is a welcome saving nonetheless!
The strong demand through 2020 did see the average time between sale and completion become longer to an average of 13 weeks. Whilst the delays are reducing and timing is improving, we expect this to return to 8-12 weeks – sellers should keep this timing in mind when considering their future plans.
At present, sellers are in a favourable position with properties for sale considerably outnumbered by the number of buyers looking for homes.
This demand cannot be relied upon indefinitely and if you’re thinking about selling in the next six months you should really be looking at taking next steps sooner rather than later whilst it’s still a market leaning in the seller’s favour.
Final note from Paul
While there is strong demand, buyers are not happily paying over the odds as they might have done is past seller’s markets.
Homes for sale in Chiswick that are made available to the market for too high a price are not selling as quickly as their well-priced counterparts and eventually are suffering price reductions.
Where we’re usually driving forward to have the highest numbers in the W4 agency rankings on this point we’re proud to be at the very bottom with the least amount of price reductions amongst our peers in Chiswick.
Pricing and strategy are the key to success in these market conditions.
Providing Director-level service throughout the process of selling property Paul and his team work closely with sellers to fulfil their plans to move.
