Surrey property market benefiting from London ripple effect

Aided by an influx of overseas property investors, demand for prime London residences has generally outstripped supply since early 2009, helping to push property prices and rents significantly higher.

Estate agents across some of the capital’s most desirable areas, from Kensington estate agents to Fulham estate agents, generally agree that international buyers have dominated the property sales in London, attracted by the cheap sterling and low interest rates.

Take Belgravia as an example. Whether looking for a property for sale in Belgravia or a property to rent in Belgravia, Belgravia estate agents report that housing supply is extremely restricted due to very high demand to live and invest in properties in the area, particularly from overseas nationals.

Stuart Bailey, head of Knight Frank in Belgravia, told the press recently that his firm have successfully sold no fewer than 15 homes in Belgravia for over £10 million apiece in the past 13 months.

But while foreign purchasers are vying for some of the best ‘super-prime’ homes in London, there are growing signs that residential property price growth is rippling out to wider London and the south east, including Sussex.

Wandsworth estate agents report that more people are looking at property for sale in Wandsworth as it presents a cheaper alternative to prime central London, not to mention an escape from the hustle and bustle of the heart of the capital.

Located in south London, Wandsworth is located less than five miles from Charing Cross making it easily commutable into central London. Consequently, more and more people are actively buying properties in Wandsworth, which in turn means that there are fewer homes on the market, pushing up property prices in the process.

Tim Harvey, managing director of expatriate mortgage specialist Offshoreonline.org said: “We have seen evidence of good quality houses selling in Wandsworth within two weeks of being listed.”

Further afield, property markets in pockets of Surrey are also feeling the benefits from the property boom in London and the rise in foreigners buying homes in the UK.

A growing number of rich purchasers from Russia, Kazakhstan, the United Arab Emirates and the United States are buying properties in this part of the country.

Any homeowner with a property for sale in Esher, for example, can often expect to receive multiple viewings and possibly even a few offers within a short time of releasing their home onto the sales market, due to a scarcity of properties in the area.

John D Wood & Co. reports that there are multiple families for every available property in Esher.

The situation is similar as far as property for sale in Weybridge is concerned. This part of Surrey attracts a wide range of rich and famous buyers.

Property markets in other parts of Surrey are also prospering from greater demand among purchasers.

Homes located in key areas, such as Grayshott and Haslemere, south of the Hindhead tunnel in Surrey which opened in July 2011, have appreciated at a fast pace in anticipation of the project, and some local estate agents estimate that they could outperform the general market by increasing by as much as five per cent over the next year.

Despite wider concerns about the UK economy, prospects for property markets in parts of London and Surrey appear to be blooming if you know where to look.

Ray Withers of Property Frontiers said: “Over the past year we have seen a huge increase in demand for UK property, especially buy-to-let, so we are not surprised to see this level of interest continue into 2012 and whilst we remain in uncertain economic times, security and capital growth will prevail over riskier, often higher yielding opportunities.”