Housing Needs Assessment 2006 - Westminster City Council

5. The local housing market5.3 Prices in adjoining areasAs the table below demonstrates, all of the local authorities around Westminster have prices wellabove the average for England and Wales. When compared with neighbouring Local Authorityareas Westminster shows an average price at the top end of the scale. Prices in Westminster arelower than in Kensington & Chelsea but higher than all other neighbouring London Boroughs.Brent displays the lowest average price in the area.Table 5.3 Price levels in Westminster andadjoining areas (4th quarter 2005)Council area% of England & WalesKensington & Chelsea 393.4%Westminster 308.7%Camden 222.0%Wandsworth 177.5%City of London 171.6%Southwark 145.6%Lambeth 143.8%Brent 141.5%Source: HM Land Registry, property price data, 20065.4 Estate Agents’ information(i) Purchase pricesDuring April 2006 a total of 11 estate and letting agencies were contacted in order to obtain detailedinformation about the local housing market across the Westminster area. Agents were contactedacross the City in order to capture localised variations.Average and minimum property prices were collected for a range of property sizes and tenures.Comments were also collected from the agents to describe the main features of the current market inWestminster, a summary of which is presented below.Agents tended to describe property sales levels in the City of Westminster as reasonably steady. Itwas felt that there was a shortage of properties across the market, and therefore demand isoutstripping supply. Clear geographical distinctions were apparent during the estate agentinterviews, with property prices in the West End (W1) and in the Mayfair and Belgravia (SW1)areas being considerably higher than other areas and property prices in the North West areas of theCity (W9 and W10) being notably lower. The prices quoted in this report are those from the cheaperareas of the City, namely Harrow Road and Queen’s Park.PAGE 55