Is Coronavirus The Death Of The Central London Flat?
There has been lots of interesting reading over the course of the past few days…
“The death of the London flat”…
“No-one will want to live in a city centre again”…
“Why on earth would people want to live in a flat anymore?”…
“Sold prices for flats have dropped by 20% in Prime Central London”…
These are all rumours and, in my opinion, are all incorrect.
Living in a 3-bed flat has never been for everyone.
Some people would rather live in a 3-bed cottage or smaller 3-bed house in the London suburbs.
As with every single property it is about useable space…
There’s no point in having a huge 3-bed flat or house if a large amount of it is unusable or wasted space and it doesn't work efficiently…
If the death of the London flat was happening, then surely property prices would have dropped by a large amount due to less interest, right?
Let’s have a look at the facts and recent sales from March 2020 till now:
Knightsbridge
Sold Date: 10/3/2020
Type: 2 bed flat
Square Feet: 1,464 sq ft
Asking Price: £4,100,000
Sold price: £4,100,000
Price/ Sq Ft: £2,800/ sq ft
% Discount: Full asking price paid
Mayfair
Sold Date: 9/3/2020
Type: 3 bed flat
Square Feet: 1,915 sq ft
Asking Price: £6,500,000
Sold price: £6,250,000
Price/ Sq Ft: £2,800/ sq ft
% Discount: 3.85%
“There’s no point in having a huge flat or house if a large amount of it is unusable or wasted space and it doesn't work efficiently.”
Belgravia
Sold Date: 19/5/2020
Type: 5 bed flat
Square Feet: 2,705 sq ft
Asking Price: £7,950,000
Sold price: £7,300,000
Price/ Sq Ft: £2,699/ sq ft
% Discount: 8.2%
Marylebone
Sold Date: 4/9/2020
Type: 3 bed flat
Square Feet: 1,710 sq ft
Asking Price: £6,950,000
Sold price: £6,950,000
Price/ Sq Ft: £4,064/ sq ft
% Discount: Full asking price paid
Kensington
Sold Date: 13/3/2020
Type: 3 bed flat
Square Feet: 2,259 sq ft
Asking Price: £7,250,000
Sold price: £7,325,000
Price/ Sq Ft: £3,243/ sq ft
% Discount: Paid over the asking price
Now, this is only a list of 5 properties…
The data shown here must be taken as it is meant - as a very simple and very small snapshot of some properties that have been sold and purchased since March 2020.
However, it does show that some properties are being sold at a discount, some are being sold at the asking price and some are being above the asking price.
Do I think that coronavirus will be the death of the city centre flat?
No, I absolutely don’t!
Do I, however, think that it will make some people reassess how they want toile their life which will make them think about moving away from the centre of a city?
Yes, I absolutely do!
Has coronavirus made you think about moving away from the centre of a city?