The best houses in Wimbledon Village, Richmond and Barnes are bought, refurbished, lived in for a generation, and many never reach the open market. Our Partner and south-west London specialist James Burridge reflects on what that scarcity now means for buyers and for the renovations that follow
In parts of south-west London, a house now costs as much as its equivalent in central London, and in some cases more. Not so long ago the idea would have been inconceivable, yet now Wimbledon Village, Richmond, Barnes and the better parts of Fulham are no longer the sensible alternative to Chelsea’s Kings Road. For many families, they are now the prime destination.
That reflects the growing appeal of this corner of London and the fundamental shift of how we now buy homes. A family’s property life once followed a comfortable script: you bought a two-bed flat, then a cottage, then a house, climbing the ladder as life demanded. Since stamp duty changed in 2014, the buyers I meet – domestic and international alike – tell me they must now live in the house for 10-15 years. So the home has to see a family through several life stages: too big at the start, about right in the middle, too big again at the end.
With so much riding on one purchase, people look hard at what £5 million actually buys. North of the river, it can get you a fairly tall, skinny house. Cross to Wimbledon Village, Wandsworth Common or Richmond and it buys something far wider and lower built, with a bigger garden, off-street parking and good schooling all around. Proximity to the Kings Road is no longer a necessity. A decent high street will do, with its coffee shops, high-end clothing stores and Waitrose, and a more village-like feel thrown in.
Why price per square foot is misleading
Of course, prime Notting Hill remains more expensive than Wimbledon Village, but parts of the lower end of the Kings Road and the better parts of Fulham are now drawing level on price. And people are paying a great deal for low, wide houses around Wandsworth Common, Wimbledon Common and Richmond Hill. £2,000 a square foot is no longer a high-water mark here.
Walk into a £5 million house in Paultons Square in Chelsea and you think, “Lovely, but I expected more.” Walk into a really good house two miles away on the Toast Rack – an enclave of grand late-Victorian and Edwardian townhouses and semi-detached properties near Wandsworth Common – and the difference is immediately apparent: in the width, the depth, the parking and a decent garden. Some pockets are now more expensive, but the quality of the homes is so much better.
Which is why getting hung up on the price per square foot is a fool’s errand, particularly as the figure is calculated on the house, not the garden. Value a house in Paultons Square with a 30-foot garden against one on Wimbledon Common with 150 feet of outside space, and the pounds per square foot will look similar. Yet there is a substantial value in that land which the number never captures. Look at the whole package, not just the house – the elusive off-street parking, the extra-large garden, a five-minute walk to the high street.
The question that matters most is repeatability. If we see a house like this just once a year, or even once every few years, it is very special indeed. If we see one once a quarter, it is rather less so. It’s a term that can be thrown around too lightly but these are generational homes. If someone buys a house on Marryat Road in Wimbledon Village, or Montague Road on Richmond Hill, refurbishes it and stays put, it may not become available again for 30 years.
The logjam within the prime London market
This brings me to the frustration that defines this market. Many long-standing owners bought in the 1980s or 1990s, their children have flown the nest and they are rattling around in a house they no longer need, yet there is little financial benefit in downsizing. Move from a £5 million house full of memories to a £3 million one, pay 12 or 13% stamp duty on the purchase, then refurbish, and there is not a huge amount left over.
The people who would trade up into those family houses are not able to unlock these special homes; it is a logjam at every level. These houses can sit in negative equity for a very long time, so now more than ever you cannot afford to get it wrong.
Even then, the house you want may never appear and above £5 million, properties generally do not reach the open market at all. They trade discretely and nobody knows they have come and gone. I estimate that around 75% of property over £3 million never hits the open market, of which a similar percentage need refurbishment.
That is why working with expert representation like ours becomes such a worthy investment. We unearth off market opportunities and undertake thorough due diligence to ensure the purchase is sound for years to come.
Why being open-minded to a project pays dividends
Around 90% of clients begin their search by telling me they do not want a project. Perhaps 75% of those end up transacting on a home that needs updating. Turnkey houses do exist and command a premium of perhaps 10 or even 20%, but there are very few of them.
Look at 10 homes, find that seven need substantial refurbishment and none are truly turnkey, and the realisation lands that you have been limiting your search. Those who accept this earlier end up in their next home sooner.
The projects themselves can run from a new kitchen, bathrooms and redecoration at the minimum to replumbing, rewiring and digging basements. The topic growing fastest in refurbishment conversations is the requirement for air conditioning, which is now front and centre of almost every search.
Substantial works involve planning applications, architects and structural engineers and very few clients come with that depth of team. We can make those introductions to the most sought-after professionals, beginning with a project manager, an architect and a planning consultant, then building out to quantity surveyors and the rest. Having someone acting solely on your behalf who you trust helps enormously, and it gets people off the mark far quicker.
Timing is a lever too and very few people realise the lead times – with planning, detailed drawings, specification of works and tender, it is probably six months before a spade goes in the ground. So where we can, we negotiate a longer completion date, at which point the client has paid only a 10% deposit, but can put a planning application in and start the design and specification of works. Once you have completed, the house is empty and you are on the clock. This way, you hit the ground running.
In Barnes Village, we recently completed on a house for a couple with a young child who wanted to put down roots near friends and find a home they could stay in for the next 20 years. They will do a large ground floor extension and extend the first and top floors, which is likely a two-year project, so we delayed completion to let them organise as much as possible beforehand.
In Wimbledon Village, we bought a property last year for a client who was downsizing and wanted the village on her doorstep so she would not need the car. She has future-proofed the house by installing a lift, so she never has to move again. The purchase was an 18-month project, as the property had previously been divided into two flats, and we waited for the vendor to get permission to put them back together, which took the planning risk away.
Planning restrictions in prime south-west London
Many of the neighbourhoods I work in, such as Richmond, Wimbledon Village, Fulham and Barnes, contain some of the most architecturally significant conservation areas in south-west London. They are protected so that their historical character survives, which means that standard permitted development rights are tightly restricted.
Few properties are nationally listed, but many are locally listed or classed by the borough as Buildings of Townscape Merit (BTMs). So normal planning rules apply, yet scrutiny is much higher on external alterations such as replacing windows and front roof extensions.
How restrictive planning is depends on how far you push the envelope. On terraces and semi-detached houses, the tone of the road rules. If nobody has done a front mansard, do not even bother applying. Basements under terraces are also difficult to get approved as boroughs are very risk-averse. Larger detached houses with good depth, front and back, can push the boundaries more.
The evolution of the neighbourhoods I call home
I grew up in Wimbledon and now live in Fulham with my family, and the high streets have improved substantially in that time. Where once you may have had a Pizza Express you will now find the likes of Sticks’n’Sushi, The Ivy, even Scott’s – brands you would once have found only in the smartest parts of London.
The big occasions are marked a lot more extravagantly too. Wimbledon Village now looks little different from Holland Park at Halloween, with huge displays outside the houses. Before we had children, my wife and I used to tour the grandest neighbourhoods of central London on the back of my scooter every year to see the Christmas lights and displays. You no longer need to leave south-west London to do it!
All of which helps explain why families are putting down roots here, and why they do so with such care. A home that must carry you through several stages of life, in a market where exceptional houses rarely appear, leaves little room for error. Whether it is finding the house before it reaches the open market, accepting early that it will most likely need work, or having the right team in place by the time you complete, the aim is the same: to get it right first time, so that our clients can spend the next 20 years enjoying it.
James Burridge is our specialist Partner in London
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