Demand surges in SW London property market

Knight Frank details the ‘Race for Space’

The well-trodden route from central London into the beautiful boroughs of South West London is something many families living in this part of the world have gladly experienced. Indeed, for decades, those with growing families soon make the lifestyle decision to move away from more central, urban environments to enjoy a more open, relaxing, and peaceful environment. South West London and the Prime Outer London ‘belt’ has acted as a net capturing this migration, particularly in recent years, and schools within the SW postcodes have always been high on the list of reasons to move this way, as the choices of exceptional education are abundant.

In the past two years, in addition to the search for high quality education, the increased ‘race for space’ now must cater for ‘must-haves’ including room to work from home and to school the children, decent-sized gardens, larger entertaining spaces and if possible, swimming pools, tennis courts and home gyms along with access to open parks and recreational facilities. As a result, demand has far outstripped supply. Knight Frank data shows that across South West London, while new sales instructions (supply) in the first four months of this year were 10% higher than the five-year average, the number of new prospective buyers (demand) was 74% higher. During the same time period, the number of offers accepted across South West London was

Harrington Lodge, Richmond, Knight Frank £6,950,000

also up by 65% on the five-year average.

With more people working from home, the requirement to be close to public transport has lessened for the daily commute into central London, although having easy access to the world-class attractions of our capital remains an important feature, particularly for the growing international demographic in the area.

With many of the local amenities being world famous, including Richmond Park, the Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew, Wimbledon tennis, Chiswick House, Hampton Court Palace to name a few, it is easy to see why people favour these beautiful areas and that once settled, they do not move away. Therefore, the opportunities to buy the best houses in these areas don’t come around too often as properties are lived in for the long-term, with many only moving to downsize to a smaller property locally once the kids have grown up and moved on.

LUKE ELLWOOD, Regional Partner at Knight Frank