Local property market struggling as prices and volumes fall

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Brentford property dream a thing of the past?

The prospect of large numbers of unoccupied flats in the Brentford area is looming following the publication of the latest set of figures from the Land Registry. They suggest a sharp fall in the number of transactions in the local property market. Home sales fell by nearly 70% compared to the same time last year.

With only 44 properties changing hands in a three month period the market is as quiet as it was during the period of uncertainty following the September 11th attack on the World Trade Centre. The rest of the country also saw a fall in volumes but not to the same extent as Brentford.

With hundreds of new units still to come to the market a glut of properties is looming unless agents can sell properties more effectively.

The only releif is in sales of terraced houses, where the figures show an increase over the previous 12 months of 18%. However the fact that only nine such properties changed hands will surely set alarm bells ringing locally.

The figures show that the average price of a Brentford property is now £256,755. Brentford prices are down by 7.2% over the last year compared to a 9.8% rise for London and a 11.8% national increase.

The figures suggest a worrying time ahead for local estate agents if the trend continues. With such a small turnover of property in the area, a shake-out of the sector is likely this year if a pick up in volumes does not happen. If prices start to fall too, 2005 could be a miserable year for local estate agents.

Property Price Statistics, Jan - Mar 2005

Jan - Mar 2005	Detached		Semi-Detached		Terraced		Flat/Maisonette		Overall
Region/Area	Av Price £	Sales	Av Price £	Sales	Av Price £	Sales	Av Price £	Sales	Av Price £	Sales
TW8 0	0	0	0	0	0	0	213993	8	213993	8
TW8 8	0	0	0	0	389333	3	270908	18	287825	21
TW8 9	0	0	261316	3	283666	6	175833	6	236062	15
Overall	-	-	261316	3	318888	9	238853	32	256755	44
Change in Quarter	-	-	-11.6%	-70.0%	29.9%	-55.0%	-15.9%	-46.7%	-7.2%	-51.1%
Change in year	-	-	-21.9%	-57.1%	18.7%	-73.5%	-10.1%	-67.7%	-4.8%	-68.6%

 

Property Price Statistics, Oct - Dec 2004

Sep-Dec 2004	Detached		Semi-Detached		Terraced		Flat/Maisonette		Overall
Region/Area	Av Price £	Sales	Av Price £	Sales	Av Price £	Sales	Av Price £	Sales	Av Price £	Sales
TW8 0	0	0	0	0	243955	10	273681	19	263430	29
TW8 8	0	0	241875	4	0	0	323947	24	312222	28
TW8 9	0	0	329991	6	248583	6	189057	7	252360	19
Overall			294745	10	245691	16	285961	50	278639	76
Change in Quarter			-5.3%	-33.3%	-9.8%	-27.3%	29.8%	-58.0%	17.9%	-51.3%
Change in year			6.7%	-16.7%	-9.0%	-48.4%	1.2%	-59.7%	-0.4%	-54.5%

Source: Land registry

For a full run down of local property values since March 2002, click here

May 11, 2005