Chester Square in London's Belgravia has an average property value of £6.2m, a recent survey suggests. With its manicured gardens and residents including ex-Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher (dodgy neighbours can drag property prices down...), it is the most expensive street in England and Wales with one property recently sold for £20m. Not surprisingly London dominates the wealthy property league, although average prices have dipped. The news isn’t too desperate as the average value of homes on the most expensive street in London in early 2009 had fallen from a year earlier, down from £6.8m.
If your building society should be in a joyful spring mood, one Chester Square property currently on the market for £13m features five bedrooms, four bathrooms, a roof terrace and a gym - all air conditioned. If the FSA have their way, with a mere 10% deposit you need only have an annual income of £3.9m and the mortgage is yours !
The buyer can look out at the Georgian terraced homes and the police-guarded property of Lady Thatcher (keeping her in ?), or the former home of 19th century poet and cultural critic Matthew Arnold. It’s an ill wind as they say and the affordability of UK property to international buyers has improved owing to the falling value of the pound. Are these the "green shoots" we keep hearing of ?
The next five streets listed in the price rankings were all neighbouring the Hampstead and Highgate golf courses of north London (where you can often bump into the likes of George Michael, although not necessarily at the golf clubs...), all with average property values of more than £4.5m.
The average value of properties in the ten most expensive streets was highest in Greater London - at £4.8m. This was followed by the South East (£3.3m) and the East (£1.7m) of England. At the other end of the scale the average value of properties in the ten most expensive streets in Wales (£716,090), the North East of England (£810,590) and the East Midlands (£847,560) all failed to hit the £1m mark.
As those old hippies Supertramp once opined, "Crisis ? What Crisis ?"
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