West Londoner's....house prices are falling so develop what you have.

Fulham has been a hotbed and poster child for the incredible demand for London property in recent years, a few years ago when house hunting around the Fulham and Parson green area, if you found a house you wanted there were two main rules offer the asking price and offer it straight away. Houses where been snapped up within hours of going on the market and with house prices rising daily, immediate action was the only way to secure your property purchase.

But over the last year or two this has all changed, prices in the Fulham area have fallen and houses remained unsold.

An article in the Financial Times has recently highlighted this quoting Savills estate agents. Prices for “prime” residential properties fell 4.6 per cent there last year, according to Savills, the estate agent, and are down more than 14 per cent from their September 2014 peak. A wider measure of residential properties in the borough of Hammersmith and Fulham shows that prices have dropped 4.3 per cent since 2014 while those for London overall have increased by 19 per cent. Estate agents in Fulham once flooded with offers are now sweating the phones. “No one is paying the asking price,” one said.

Fulham like other exclusive areas in London have been hit by tax changes and tighter lending rules. The increase in stamp duty on the priciest houses in 2014, and then added a surcharge on purchases of second homes. The prospect of Brexit has also been painful for a district that has become a magnet for French expatriates with the proximity of celebrated French schools and a thriving French community.

What is happening though in the Fulham housing market is great news for Nick Jeffries owner of NU Projects (once dubbed as the Gucci builders operating out of their plush offices on Fulham High Street). ‘’Rather than selling homes and trading up current Fulham residents are opting to stay put and remodel instead. Home owners are investing in their existing houses, improving the finish, adding basements, developing loft spaces generally adding value to their properties so their quickly growing families can stay longer in an improved environment and sit it out and wait for the benefits of their financial investment when the market inevitably starts to rise again. We at Nu have been inundated with work over the last few months, it is fantastic to work with so many people who want to improve their homes, we love what we are currently working on, myself and my team are able to use our creativity to add value and improve the lifestyle of so many Fulham residents’’.

I have over the last few months started to work in property development, I am working with NU Projects and other partners across the capital, I am looking at New Builds to develop but also capitalising on this demand for home improvement in the Fulham area. Not all of course is plain sailing though if you do want to improve your existing property. I think it is vital that if you are thinking about any sort of property development (and I know this from previously awful experience) that you have to choose your contractors carefully and also you invest at the right time which it seems to be now.

Jason Gale

C.EO Lifestyle Awards ® and Property Developer

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