Surging prices hit a sticky wicket in St John’s Wood
From catching the cricket to securing a school place, the north London area remains popular despite rising mortgage rates — for those who can afford it
Having Lord’s on the doorstep wasn’t the only reason company adviser Surath Chatterjee was bowled over by St John’s Wood, but it helped.
“We have lots of friends here and like the fact it’s very leafy yet well-connected,” says Chatterjee, 62. He and his wife Rashmy, a tech business chief executive, recently bought a six-bedroom house with a large garden in the north-west London neighbourhood. “I’m a big cricket fan and love being so close to the ground,” says Chatterjee, who watched the second Ashes Test at Lord’s several weeks ago.
While England may have faltered in that match, the popularity of the area — and its house prices — have been driven skyward in recent years.
Between 2015 and 2019, about one in 15 houses sold in the NW8 postcode went for more than £2,000 per sq ft, according to LonRes, which tracks the UK capital’s prime property market. In 2022 and this year, it has risen to one in four. “This is the largest increase in London by far and means prices in St John’s Wood are now in the ranks of Kensington and Notting Hill,” says Nick Gregori, of LonRes.
But the market has been caught out by rising interest rates. In the first five months of this year, the number of home sales was 37 per cent down on the same period in 2022; prices dropped 4.5 per cent to about £1,260 per sq ft, LonRes says. Separate data from Coutts bank reveals that 39 per cent of properties priced between £1mn and £10mn that sold in the first quarter of this year had been reduced.
“The market between £1mn and £15mn has been affected quite considerably,” says Stephen Lindsay, of Savills estate agency. “There is not a lot of stock and there are serious buyers but they don’t want to overpay given what’s happened to mortgage rates. Sellers’ expectations are also way too high,” he adds.
St John’s Wood benefited from the Covid-era race for space and big-ticket buyers flocked there to get significantly more home and garden for their money than in more central areas, says Jo Eccles, of buying agency Eccord. “Families are also attracted here by the schools — particularly Americans, who come for the American School,” she says.
Schooling helped prompt American interior designer Priscilla Kandasamy to buy in St John’s Wood. “Our elder daughter is about to embark on the 11-plus so we wanted to live somewhere with access to great schools,” says Kandasamy, 38, principal at PTK Interiors.
She and her financier husband bought a four-bedroom house a short walk from St John’s Wood High Street for about £4mn — the property was part way through being redeveloped and they have since finished it. “We moved from Greenwich [Connecticut], so we are used to quite large homes and I liked the feeling of space in St John’s Wood,” Kandasamy adds.
St John’s Wood has long been popular with international buyers. Neir Gigi, of Knight Frank estate agency, estimates that 60 per cent of homes priced between £4.5mn and £10mn go to international purchasers. “Above that, it’s about 80 per cent.”
St John’s Wood is known for its Regency white stucco villas and red-brick Victorian and Edwardian mansion buildings. In 1968, a significant proportion of the district became one of London’s first conservation areas and its character is keenly protected by the St John’s Wood Society.
The east side of St John’s Wood, near the High Street, Regent’s Park and Primrose Hill, is the most prestigious. According to Marc Schneiderman, of Arlington Residential, the premier streets are Norfolk Road, Acacia Road, Queen’s Grove, Woronzow Road and Ordnance Hill — values here are generally 20 per cent higher than other parts of NW8 and family houses typically range from £3mn to more than £20mn.
Avenue Road, a busier arterial road, is a magnet for very wealthy international buyers. “This street is almost exclusively mansions, with asking prices regularly between £50mn and £100mn,” Schneiderman says.
The few new-build apartment schemes include One St John’s Wood, 4-6 St Edmunds Terrace and 1A St John’s Wood Park — the last is a newly launched boutique collection of nine apartments with prices starting at £1.65mn. The £400mn regeneration of St John’s Wood Barracks, master-planned by the architects Squire & Partners, will create a new community with 179 homes.
Detractors say St John’s Wood feels too suburban and in recent years has been stuck in the shadow of Marylebone, its trendy southern neighbour.
But retired tennis club manager Peta Churchman, 69, who has lived in the area since 1979, says she can’t imagine living anywhere else. Churchman and her husband live close to Abbey Road Studios in a Victorian house with a large garden, which they have recently extended and “future-proofed”. St John’s Wood “suits all ages and has a vibrant community, with lots of people working hard to keep the place beautiful and green”, she says.
You just need to be very wealthy to live there.