Chelsea Property Market update
Date : 20 September 2011
The summer of 2011 has proven to an eventful both at home and away. In London we have been shocked by the images of the riots in August, The East Coast of the US was hit by hurricane Irene and the Arab uprisings have continued with Gaddafi's regime being overthrown and further troubles in Syria. As well as this, the financial markets globally have been extremely volatile and the crisis with the euro seems to show no signs of abetting.
All this is the backdrop to what has been a relatively productive summer for the property market in Chelsea and prime central London. One thing that has remained constant is the still lack of available property to buy and it will be interesting to see whether this factor will sustain over the coming weeks.
Sentiment continues to be positive - not only is London the Olympic city next year but also there seems to be a genuine flight to property as a safe place to invest.
As a result, prices are continuing to strengthen and deals are being done but only in so much as when property becomes available.
There is also a widening gap between quality property and secondary - buyers seem to accept that they have to pay premiums and therefore record prices for property that is of the highest quality, ether in terms of location or finish but anything that is not is often struggling if it is not priced correctly.
My feeling is that we may see a little more coming to the market over the coming weeks but it remains to be seen whether prices continue to rise as strongly in this quarter as they have done during the remainder of the year.