Housing Needs Assessment 2006 - Westminster City Council

Westminster – Housing Needs Assessment 2006A key issue in deciding the appropriate price assumptions to use in assessing overall City-wideaffordability is whether a household that could afford market priced housing by moving areasonable distance should be assessed as being in housing need. In this case the term ‘reasonabledistance’ is taken to mean ‘within the City of Westminster boundary’ and it is recognised that somehouseholds would therefore need to move from their current locality to afford private sectorhousing.5.6 SummaryAn analysis of the local housing market is a crucial step in any housing study. In this reportinformation was drawn from both the Land Registry and local estate/letting agents to provide thecontext for local property prices/rents. Some of the main findings of the analysis are:• Average prices in Westminster rose by 45.2% in the period 2000 to 2005. This is below therate of increase observed regionally and nationally.• The average property price in Westminster in the 4th quarter 2005 was well above theaverage figure for London.• Sales of properties in Westminster are predominantly flats with only 10.3% of sales in the4th quarter of 2005 being houses.• The estate agent survey suggested that minimum prices ranged from £198,000 for a onebedroom property rising to £482,500 for a four bedroom property.• Minimum rents ranged from £890 to £2,617 per month depending on size.• The Harrow Road and Queen’s Park (W9 & W10) areas are significantly cheaper than otherparts of the City, therefore the prices in this area will be applied to households in all parts ofthe City when it comes to testing affordability.PAGE 58