The London housing boom is not confined to Chelsea and Belgravia. As soon as a mid-priced family house — between £1.5 million and £2.5 million — comes up for sale in Wandsworth Common, there can be as many as 20 bids; the property can go under offer even before the brochure is printed. Bankers, management consultants, lawyers and celebrity chefs (Gordon Ramsay lives here) are at the vanguard of buyers in this part of South West London.
Sam Sproston, an associate with Wandsworth Common’s branch of Knight Frank, says: “The market peaked in 2007, things were trickier in 2008 and 2009. But now the market has well and truly bounced back. At the end of last year, we sold a house on Dorlcote Road for £2.3 million; the owner paid £2 million in 2007.”
Where is it?
Next to that similarly desirable South London suburb of Clapham. Wandsworth Common has its own neighbourhoods: Spencer Park (north of the common), the Toast Rack (a group of expensive streets), Bellevue Village (south of the common), Between the Commons (around Bolingbroke Grove) and the Magdalen Estate (west of the common).
What is the housing like?
Victorian family houses on quiet tree-lined roads. People pay a premium to overlook, or back on to, the common. Prices vary from £600 to £700 per sq ft around Bellevue Road and Bolingbroke Grove to between £900 and £1,000 per sq ft on the Toast Rack or Spencer Park where homes back on to a large communal garden.
How buoyant is the market?
In the past fortnight a house on St James’s Drive sold for £1.7 million within ten days; another on Ouseley Road, for £1.6million, had 17 viewers within three days. Robert Trindle, of Trindle Rymer Irens, says: “The average five-bedroom, three-bathroom house is selling pretty quickly. If you haven’t a buyer within a few days, you’ll definitely have one within a couple of weeks.”
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An unrenovated three-bedroom Victorian terrace on Montholme Road sold within 13 days — after 45 viewings, 31 offers and ten sealed bids above £850,000 — and contracts were exchanged within ten minutes.However, the market in houses up to £800,000 is less frantic and buyers can negotiate a good deal for flats.
Why is it so popular?
The common is the big draw, as is the range of good primary schools — state and private. Wandsworth Common station has fast trains to Clapham Junction and Victoria. There is a village feel, with independent shops, art galleries, gastropubs and good-quality restaurants on Northcote Road and Bellevue Road.
What are the downsides?
It is quite a walk to the Tube stations at Clapham South or Balham. There is a dearth of good state secondary schools. Few houses have off-street parking.