Discerning cash rich buyers in the UK would rather buy a Georgian style property and are prepared to pay more for it, according to new research.
An analysis of the asking prices of properties of differing architectural styles by consultants Savills shows that Georgian style attracts a 43% premium and can fetch double that in London.
Victorian and Edwardian properties are also very popular and can attract a 20% uplift in value regionally and around 14% in London, Savills says.
Overall the research shows that the best properties in the best locations are now typically within 5% to 10% of their peak. However the lack of stock has meant that the significant gap that opened up during the downturn between the best properties and those in less desirable locations has started to narrow.
‘In general terms, the best quality period family homes in the most popular £1 million to £2 million London price bracket are closest to regaining peak values, thanks to competition between cash rich, need-based buyers,’ says Savills.
It says that a house worth £1.5 million at the peak of the market would now be worth just over £1.45 million, whereas a less desirable property of the same value at peak would fetch only around £175,000 less in today’s market.
In the prime London market, where price growth has been at its strongest, best in class properties are now less than 5.0% below their peak and back to peak in many cases. In contrast, prices of high end properties in less attractive locations, with a less popular architectural style or that have been on the market for too long remain 16.0% off their 2007 peak.
Regionally price growth has been less pronounced, meaning that the best property is still on average 9.1% below its peak, but that compares favourably to an average off peak for all prime regional property of 15.9% and 24.8% for less desirable prime real estate. In some areas though such the Cambridge townhouse market, finite supply means that prices are also within 5% of the peak.
The report concludes that a lack of supply in the market has allowed the gap between the best and the rest to narrow. ‘Where people have perhaps been put off by issues such as proximity to a road, or school noise, a lack of choice has in some cases forced them to reconsider,’ it says.
‘As a result prices paid for blighted properties, which suffered the most during the downturn, have been boosted by 6.8% compared to 5.2% for the best in class.’