Brentford Property Market Suffers 'Worst Ever' Few Months

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But buyer pays over a million for house in TW8 during pandemic


House in Tallow Road went for £1,200,000 during pandemic

A local estate agent has described the recent state of the Brentford property market as the worst he has ever seen with turnover almost grinding to a halt.

The latest data released by the Land Registry shows that only 14 properties changed hands in the three months to the end of September, the lowest number since records began. There were just 19 sales in the previous three months at the height of the lockdown. Other parts of London have not seen quite such a precipitous decline in market turnover during the pandemic.

However, although the low number of sales makes determining the direction of prices difficult, there do seem to be some indications that prices are not falling significantly.

One buyer was willing to pay £1,200,000 in July for a house on Tallow Road. Although it was originally marketed for £1,325,000 by Winkworths and Snellers before and after the Covid-19 outbreak, similar properties on the road have changed hands at around the same level as the sale price in recent years.

One local agent said, “This has been the worst ever period for the local property market in terms of sales, even worse than during the financial crisis ten years ago. The pattern elsewhere in London is that demand remained robust for larger properties through the lockdown partly due to people often having to move due to necessity but also because the benefit of the stamp duty reduction is more significant. Brentford has a limited stock of this kind of property therefore has been more exposed to the downturn than other postcodes.

“A sustained economic recovery dependent on buying interest resuming in the kind of property of which Brentford has a lot of in the pipeline so it can be assumed that government policy will be geared towards reviving the market. What can’t be assumed is that it will be successful but we are already seeing levels of interest that suggests a vaccine euphoria bounce is in the offing.”

Brentford Property Prices - (July - September 2020)
Area	Semi-det	Sales	Terrace	Sales	Flat/ mais	Sales	Overall Ave	Total Sales
TW8 0	0	0	800000	2	563750	4	642500	6
TW8 8	500000	1	0	0	325000	1	412500	2
TW8 9	813000	2	815000	1	328667	3	571167	6
Total	708667	3	805000	3	445750	8	579071	14
Change in quarter	-15.1%	200.0%	66.0%	-40.0%	0.5%	-38.5%	21.9%	-26.3%
Change in year	24.0%	-62.5%	34.7%	-78.6%	0.0%	-66.7%	12.1%	-70.2%
Change in 3 years	9.0%	-72.7%	19.8%	-80.0%	13.0%	-74.2%	12.0%	-75.4%
Change in 5 years	62.5%	-40.0%	41.5%	-80.0%	-13.7%	-94.7%	11.6%	-91.8%
Change in 10 years			124.4%	-82.4%	85.8%	-78.9%	109.3%	-74.5%

Where do I live? Brentford TW8 postcodes are divided into three sectors, TW8 0xx, TW8 8xx and TW8 9xx. Broadly speaking, TW8 0xx covers areas east of Boston Manor Road, TW8 8xx goes west of Boston Manor Road, whilst TW8 9xx covers the areas to the north of the A4.

Source: Land Registry

Nationally the Nationwide House Price Index showed a year on year increase of 5% to £226,129 up to the end of September. For London the average has risen by 4.4% over the year to £480,857.

Robert Gardner, Nationwide's Chief Economist, said: “Housing market activity has recovered strongly in recent months. Mortgage approvals for house purchase rose from c66,000 in July to almost 85,000 in August - the highest since 2007, well above the monthly average of 66,000 prevailing in 2019.

“The rebound reflects a number of factors. Pent-up demand is coming through, with decisions taken to move before lockdown now progressing. The stamp duty holiday is adding to momentum by bringing purchases forward. Behavioural shifts may also be boosting activity as people reassess their housing needs and preferences as a result of life in lockdown.”

Regular updates on the local property market are published in the weekly BrentfordTW8.com newsletter.

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November 13, 2020