Anyone know what's happening in the Ealing area (Ealing Broadway, South Ealing, Northfields, Acton Town)?

I am thinking of buying a 2 (min) bed freehold. Havent checked out the area yet, but will do. Websites indicted it to be steady. Prices are quite high in that area, but its very nice and the possibility of crossrial means it will be on the few parts of West London to see some major development in the next 10 years.

Friend of mine just bought a 2 bed terrace just off northfields ave for 325k - I was dsimayed to hear him say he paid the asking price - he fell for that old estate agent chestnut "there are 4 other buyers interested".


Don't buy in Hanwell/West Ealing - they are turning into asylum seeker ghettoes

Wow! He actually paid £325k for a 2 bed terrace! I was hoping that they wouldnt be shifting and so I could go in and make low offers. Thanks for the advice re Hanwell.

Do you know what is happening to Crossrail, is it still going to run through Ealing Broadway - if it get built?

QUOTE(Bagehot @ Jul 18 2005, 07:56 AM)

Wow!  He actually paid £325k for a 2 bed terrace!  I was hoping that they wouldnt be shifting and so I could go in and make low offers.  Thanks for the advice re Hanwell.

Do you know what is happening to Crossrail, is it still going to run through Ealing Broadway - if it get built?

Perhaps in 18 months time when the repo mans comes calling you can buy it for a lot less!

There is a paradox here. If armagedon is around the corner and we are to have an economic collapse of the magnitude of 1989 then for most purchasers the ability to purchase will also deteriorate: lenders will stop lending; sellers who do not HAVE to sell, wont; purchasers (you and I) will feel insecure and wont buy.

However, I do think for your friend to have paid the asking price is incredible. You can rent those houses for £1100. £325K at 5% mortgage rate = £1350pcm (and no stamp duty).

My strategy is to offer: 1) discount the first £5K to arrive at true market price (after checking out the area and what similar houses have sold for) and offer a further 10-15% below the price. I think 80/100 sellers will reject.

van hoogestran

how is your friend able to afford a £300K+ 2 bed house in Ealing? i was thinking and it strikes me even if he has a household income of £7oK he would struggle to get a 100% mortgage.

I am looking at Ealing very closely and do follow the prices there reasonably closely.

In the Ealing Common area, Grimshaw has a stranglehold on the EA market and appears to be a good, old fashioned EA. In the last few months, they have a lot more on the market than they used to. Some of the properties have been on the market for ages but have not really come down in price. From the looks of the prices on Nethouseprices, there has been a little dip but not mega crash in prices in the last year. Yes they are high, reasonably stable and appear to be solid.

As regards Northfields etc. well that is a different story. I haven't really followed that area as closely because the houses are all terraced, 2 bedders. If they are 3 beds, they have usually had a loft conversion. The problem is that all the terraced houses are "much of a muchness" and there is little to differentiate between them. I would guess that in a dive, that area in particular would take a real beating.

I agree with the comments about Hanwell and West Ealing. They both seem very dodgy (and Hanwell is terribly situated for transport unless you are happy with overland to Paddington). I don't think that Ealing common will go that way but it is sandwiched between Acton, Northfields and Hanwell so in an uncomfortable position!

Speaking generally, the prices on Nethouseprices for most of the area in Ealing show no increases over the last year or so and little increases over the last 3 years. Most people tell me that this is a sign of stability but I am not so sure.

He and his missus have already got a flat just off mattock lane which they've had for about 8 years and which they can let for about 500 quid a month more than the mortgage on it, which makes a fair dent in their new mortgage.

Plus they've got no kids.

Northfields has got a v good secondary school (used to anyway) called Fielding which keeps the prices up.

Nicest areas are round the common, green & round walpole park - northfields/boston manor used to be quite irish - i've got another mate who couldnt afford to buy round there and ended up in Hounslow

Thats excellent advice. I suspect an area like Ealing will always hold up more than other areas in any environment.

I dont need to be near a good school. I just want to be near shops and a tube or railway (so the Broadway I would presume). oh yes and just a decent area to settle down.

You cant follow Northfields that closely as there are a few streets which are two beds but the vast majority are three beds.

depends on how you describe/define 3 beds! all the terraced stuff seems to be properly describable as 2 beds.

The more Georgian houses to the East of the main road are 3 bedders, I admit.

If you're looking to buy / track Ealing prices then I'd suggest you use Sinton Andrews. They specialise in the better properties.

Don't rule out all of West Ealing, parts of W13 are much better than W5. Look north of the Uxbridge Rd just off The Avenue. 10 - 15 min walk to Ealing Broadway tube, good housing stock.

I apologise for the shameless bump.

I have been looking in the Ealing area for a couple of months. It seems the only places shifting are where the vendor accepts offers below the asking price, although a few deals are falling through and properties being put back on. That said the asking prices have only been reduced by a 1 or 2% and a lot aren't at all. It also seems to me that there isn't that much coming on to the market at the moment.

Does anyone else have a different perspective?

House prices in Ealing have not moved at all in the last 3 years.
"End of" as they said in this series of big brother.

Dont be fooled by the agents.
They are talking rubbish, prices in Ealing are stagnant.
Cross ref with nethouseprices.

When yo walk round Ealing surely you cant help but see the number of houses which are two or even three agent marketed.
WTF does that tell you??????

Do not offer asking.
Expect a huge discount.

Coincidentally I was talking to an Ealing agent last week about a house they have had on the market for a whole year. Despite not selling after a year they are advising the vendor, who has had no offers, to not compromise on the price yet.
All this tells me is that the agents have got fat in the last few years and have money in the bank to insulate themselves from the current lack of sales and commission.

Dont be fooled.

I know what Im talking about.

I sold in west london last year and it was hell.
9 months on the market and 1 offer.
ANd that was last year before it officially went tits up.

cheers

I_Hate

Thanks for the update. I drove round Ealing last weekend again looking at which were nice roads and which were bad roads. I didn't see an enormous increase in the number of "for sale" boards when compared to earlier this year. I was quite surprised.

Mind you, I was driving so may have missed it!

On another thread a week or so ago (sorry, can't find it), someone mentioned that alot of Estate Agents aren't putting up For Sale signs anymore as when they stay up for months it shows their failure, so they are only using the SOLD signs. I'm looking at the Ealing Common/West Acton area and this does seem to be true as I've seen a lot of properties on the web that don't have For Sale signs outside of them.

I have been browsing for about 6 months and there are alot of properties that have been advertised for this whole time, but the better properties (of their type) are going to Sale Agreed on the property sites fairly quickly, but it will be interesting to see if they actually complete and for how much less than the asking price.

Thanks for the info Sanddancer - am going to look at a few estate agents on Saturday lunchtime to compare sales and lettings lists.

I'll let you know.

Saw the below, it went on the market at 260k that went "under offer" within a week.
http://www.findaproperty.com/agent.aspx?ag...=prop&pid=54414

I haven't seen much change in the asking prices since the beginning of the year, but the ones that came on the market in the last month seem to be up a bit in comparison to the spring.

Have been looking in Ealing for a year now, prices have gone up a bit but that is to accommodate lower offers. A year ago the estate agents never rang but now they call all the time!
Chatting to them they all say - "the house is on for x but put in an offer, owner is realistic"
They are all short of stock at the moment and not taking on stuff.
Made one offer a while back, 10% under asking price, was rejected, then 2 weeks later EA called to say vendor would accept so I lowered another 10% but no joy yet!

We've been looking in Ealing over the past year. Grimshaw's have a huge problem there is a exodus out of London but those who are able to afford Ealing prices. This was always the case but its worse since the London bombings. Very little has shifted over the past year. We think it would be worth our while waiting for another year to see how things go. Price reductions are on the cards for sure.

If anyone else is looking in Ealing would be good to know if anyone has offered on a property and how much under the offer price they could get!

We looked at another house this week and the Ea said the price was really negotioable. I think even they realise they have to come down to sell. Ea has called twice to persuade me to offer, I said property was far too much for what it was, and he said dont be frightened of a low offer.

Replies would be appreciated. The more info we can get the better for everyone!

Friend of friend has just bought a 2 bedroom garden flat in Ealing Broadway for £340K. I think they probably paid the full asking price as they didn't seem too savvy, are new to the area and have very wealthy parents who are pretty much funding the whole thing.

Their only comment was that they could have bought a 4-bedroom house ten minutes down the road for the same price, but decided that they wanted to be closer to the bars and restaurants of Ealing Broadway, so it was a lifestyle choice. I didn't know whether to laugh or cry.

EA called me today on a house I viewed 3 months ago, on at 350k, sold but sale fallen through. Told me there was an offer on it at 320k, did I want to make an offer. I said ok 300k - we are FTB's etc and instead of discounting my offer he said he would forward it to vendor! mmmm me thinks there is no other offer and already they are discounting 30k almost 10%.
Please any other experiences post on here, it will help us all

People in the next street(Off Northfield Avenue) had their house on the market for two days before they got an offer which they accepted. In Ealing, the right house in right area at right price still sells.

Oh dear - I've been told Ealing Broadway at night is a grim spectacle these days. The town house is the in spot for Kosovans, some friends of mine owned the Prince Arthur but sold it when the aggro from the cokeheads and other unsavoury characters got so bad it wasnt worth the hassle any more.
All the scumbags from Hayes, Northolt & Acton pour in to pollute what used to be a good place for a night out

From what I can see on the property sites and agents own sites, I would agree with this, but equally there does seem to be lots of properties with no chain or pictures of rooms with no furniture, which suggests BTL trying to sell up - these properties are hanging around quite a while.

Also agree with the comments about Ealing Broadway not being a good place for a night out anymore - I haven't really been there much myself in the last year, but the before that it seemed to be full of under-age drinkers, who I can only describe as being Ali-G types.

So everyone thinks Ealing is bad! I dont see it myself, it has good restraunts and bars and different places for different people. It also has good schools which prop the prices up.
A lot of houses are selling suddenly, ones that have been around for ages are still sticking, Northfields is selling fast too,
I hope its just a blip..... before a correction in prices.
Again any of experiences on asking/actual prices in the area would be great.

Where did you get "So everyone thinks Ealing is bad" from in the above posts?

I quite like Ealing, lots of trees and good communications and one of the best sushi bars around.

That aside

Has anyone noticed that the market here is completely stagnant. Everything is completely overpriced (some of the EA's seem even embarrassed sometimes!). Very little coming on (and off) market. It seems that the would be vendors are holding tight, hoping for an upswing I suppose - if I were in their position would probably do the same.

I'm registered with Grimshaw's and to my surprise I'm receiving two letters per week with more than five property details included. It says to me that things are not moving in the 400 000+ bracket.

I have lived in Ealing Broadway for 3 years. I have been looking to buy a flat but prices seem still very high. For experience I believe in the last 3 years the market has movep up slighlty but prices are fairly stagnant. I know a townhouse priced at 640 went for 605 (5.5% discount). Getting 10% discount is not easy anyting better than that would be a great deal. When I see flats often agents stress out that the seller is interested in taking offers.
I saw this flat on the common which is very nice but the price seem to me crazy. Anyone wants to share an opinion?

http://www.rightmove.co.uk/viewdetails-754...pa_n=1&tr_t=buy

As per the issue of Ealing Broadway at night. I have not seen significan changes or worsening in the past 3 years. I agree that you see some dodgy people aroung but it is inevitable for a place with a fairly large and busy station (2 tubes + train) and so many pubs/bars and restaurants.
Still I find it nice to go out, especially if you avoid the busy places on the Uxbridge Rd. There are at least 3/4 restaurants worth going and a couple of very nice pubs.

I don't think that flat is typical of many in Ealing. 3 bedrooms in a flat always seems a bit excessive. I assume you don't have a family.

Still overlooking the common is nice - until the fair comes along (twice a year?). I reckon price is about right give or take £30,000.

Re Ealing Broadway at night - went down hill about 5 years ago. Although to be fair there are many more pubs and restaurants than there ever used to be.

This has been onthe market with 2 different agents for a wholeyear

http://www.rightmove.co.uk/viewdetails-762...pa_n=1&tr_t=buy

Looking at the street as a whole the price seems steep but not that greedy.
The location is perfect, although schools are crap.

In conjuction with the rises seen in the rest of the country it isnt even that stupid either.

But it still hasnt sold.

Ha ha ha ha ha

Looks like it is too expensive after all.

The thing is I have phoned up the agents for a cosy chat and each time they have told me they have severalinterestedparties.
In which case the vendors must be getting very impatient

Decent house (not my taste tho),
Good location
Fair price considering
Not sold


I_Hate

Interesting, I did not know it has been on the market for such a long time.
One reason why it has not sold yet is that it is a flat and in Ealing for this money you can get a 3 bed terrace or a townhouse (I have seen a couple in Regal Close for less than 500k). On top of it it needs a lot of work inside. Also for that money you can certainly get a decent flat in Maida Vale or other nice central locations.

I'd like to borrow your expertise for another flat which looks to me fairly priced given size and location. Comments are welcome...

http://www.rightmove.co.uk/viewdetails-883...pa_n=1&tr_t=buy

Finally, has anybody an idea why good size flats hardly (if ever) come available in streest like Mount Park Crescent or Woodville Rd? True that some of the houses are not split into flats, but some are, and they never seem to come to the market....

Cheers

That flat looks over-valued to me.

£300,000 - £320,000.

Have you investigated Sinton Andrews? - they used to do a lot of decent property. I bought and sold my flat through them. Old style vaguely ethical.

Agree - the flat is a bit over priced, should get £320k though, 320-350k is the going rate for corfton road.

Also noticed anything period in the conservation area around haven green gets snapped up immediately.
Roberston Smith kempson - mountfield road - 2bed terrace £350k sold in 2 days. Sinton Andrews same street - £430 k - 2 weeks!

There is a small(very) cottage in haven lane with sinton andrews for 380k, better value than a flat because you own the bulding and close to a really nice pub! - its in the area you like as well!

I think its back to the old location location location - definately houses in the nice streets sell qulcky, no sign of any nervousness in the market there so i will keep saving...and hoping.

Thanks for your comments. I have to say that I disagree with your view to be honest. The cottage in Haven Lane is 70sqm in size vs 91sqm of the Westbury rd flat (30% bigger!), and is 30k more expensive. I would not give up all this space for the ownership of the building, and hopefully the flat has a share in the freehold. Moreover the ceilings in a cottage are very low and it has stairs which also reduce the space of the property. Another similar flat in Wesbury rd went for 360k in june, so 350k seem reasonably priced to me.

True about the size, i just prefer houses. With flats, especially conversions a lot of them are rented out so the tennants above, below or side to side could be a problem - but you do get lots more space, security etc
Good luck if you go for it.

I think this is a trade-off that is seen in a lot of areas, especially outer London. In the better roads, the small houses have a massive premium attached.

In my area, an 850-900 sqft flat with off street parking and communal garden will go for £280k. A Victorian terrace on the same road would cost at least £50k more, even though it is likely to be slightly smaller, no off street parking and a small/no garden.

Oh well, I thought I would revive this topic as I am looking for a house in this area, ideally in the triangle formed by northfields road, Boston Manor, and Uxbridge Road.

We have been looking since August for a victorian 3 or 4 bed with at least 2 decent size rooms (more than 10 foot square) and 30-40 foot garden. What I noticed to start with was that even houses in the £500-550,000 range didn't really have all these things, which frankly seems unreasonable for this area.
Anyway, I have been assuming that prices will drop over the months as houses don't sell, but the same houses that we looked at in August are still advertised at the same price.
What really annoys me is that every house we have looked at they are asking far more for than any house in the street has ever sold for.

I would really only like to spend 450,000 given the current housing climate, and possibility of forthcoming falls in value.

Does anyone have any info about how much the houses that sell actually sell for? (ie how much of a discount you can get on the asking price)
I look at the land registry prices, but they are still a bit out of date, and you don't have the original asking price to compare with (although I will start tracking this in a spreadsheet).

Well we offered on a place in Holly Park Road Hanwell on the weekend. Nice Victorian 3 bed terrace, but miles away from the tube. They were asking 450, and we offered 400. They turned us down.
I'd be interested to see what the property actually goes for.

The agent rang up and asked if we would go for 420,000. I said no. I don't imagine they will come down any further, as the property hasn't been on the market long. Mind you the highest sale ever in the street is 360,000 in 2006, so what with the current credit crunch, hopefully things will drift back down.

No. 17? Cause we made an offer too

Really? Interesting. TBH I can't remember the number - it was at the end of the street on the right. The house has disappeared off the agents web sites though, so I'm not sure what that means.
A reasonably similar place across the road has sold, so I am interested to see what it went for.

OK, I have checked it out now, we are talking about a different house.
Out of interest Eesie, how is your search going? Have you found anything yet? What part of Ealing/Hanwell are you looking in? And how are you finding things?

It seems to me that prices in the area seem to have gone up by 15-20% in the last year. I am hoping that that rise won't hold over the next few months.

I wasn't entirely sure if it was the same but with HIPS some houses described as 3 bed + loft, so curious. Def. not the same if on the right and off agents site. Our offer accepted and we are happy as ticks most boxes we want, nowhere going to tick them all. Now all we have to do is get our place in W13 sold, worry worry stress stress. We have bridging loan to do it all topsy turvey, need to move asap as 3 have outgrown house and another on the way. Not good on news hearing prices down 0.8% but is a buyers market this time of year generally anyhow. You really need £600,000 to get more boxes ticked, which is mad really, every little extra thing seems to cost £100,000 so want off street parking +£100,000, bigger garden +£100,000.....

At first we were hoping we might stretch to Northfield's area for Fielding school catchment but even 2 beds was a bit high, so looked at Mayfield are in W7, nice houses in fact we looked at one in Cuckoo Dean which is lovely, nice big garden and 4 bed (1 loft not stiars tho'), but husband just didn't warm to the feel of the area, bit far from Uxbridge Road for transport for him and senior school Brentside. If schools not priority and you got a car I think it's a good Hanwell area to look at. Old Hanwell very clicky, or at least I get the feel it still is, it was when my sister lived in Dunster Road 20 years back.

As for what prices houses go for as opposed to asking price, it depends on who's looking at the time and what they are willing to spend a lot of the time in my opinion as well as vendor's circumstances, and what survey's turn up, lot's of variables and luck in there. I think people have prices highish in the hope of cashing in still and sometimes it can pay off, we are hoping that a bit.

Good luck, it's not an easy time is it.

Hi Esie, yes we have a flat near Hanger Lane, but since we now have twin boys we need to buy a house, and have both fallen in love with the idea of living in a period property. Unfortunately they seem to command a price premium.
At the moment the plan is to keep our flat and rent it out and buy a house to live in outright, which should make us more attractive buyers. We had previously planned to sell our flat, in which case we could afford to buy somewhere in the triangle on the south side of uxbridge road between Boston Manor and Northfields.
But to be honest, of all the houses I have looked at there none seemed suitable - the main problem seems to be getting second and third bedrooms of a decent size (say about 10 foot square). Also a lot of these houses have very small gardens.

Just looking at the latest month's land price data, most of the houses that have sold in this area have been for pretty close to the asking price. Hopefully this will be changing soon

We noticed the practically non existant 3rd bedroom thing too when we were looking, partly why we are so stretching ourselves with this purchase as good sized rooms. I think more modern houses are smaller. I've seen that they even put scaled down furniture in new show homes to make rooms appear larger. We did see a new build in Old Hanwell and whilst it was nice the rooms were wierd shapes and overkill on the ensuites (2) and a family bathroom + downstairs loo for a 3 bed? I'd rather more bedroom thank you.

Hanger lane has some nice estates off it but pricey. Just remember to steer clear of the Green Man estate in West Ealing and very very clear of the Copley Close estate in Hanwell.

It can get so tricky when you have narrow criteria like we did: schools, proximity to Uxbridge Road, No. bedrooms, garden with room for grass... At least you know where you are with 2 boys, No. 2 is an unknown so couls be sharing for a bit, or a bit longer or not.

We considered letting to buy but decided smaller mortage and cleaner to sell in the end. I didn't fancy it all getting too complicated.

Well another few weeks seem to have gone by, and none of the houses that we were looking at have sold, and there hasn't been any new stock onto the market for ages......

Oh well, turns out the place we were looking at went for 425,000. What house price crash? Must have only been advertised for about a week.

There seems a depressing lack of period properties in Hanwell/West Ealing at a reasonable price with a bedroom sized (as opposed to shoebox sized) third bedroom.