Homes in Hants

Price growth in Winchester’s prime housing market is being driven by the continued demand for properties in key town and city markets with good schools, transport links and amenities.

The key findings of Knight Frank’s latest research show that prime property values in Winchester rose by 3.3% in the final three months of 2015, and by 7.1% on an annual basis

There was a notable increase in the number of Londoners looking to relocate to Winchester, with many such buyers taking advantage of the price differential between property values in London and elsewhere in the country with London buyers accounting for 25% of the market; more than twice that of the previous year.

There are differentials in specific areas of the city which are outpacing others with Hyde proving to be particularly popular; it is thought that the proximity to the station and good schools helped to push this area up by 8.5%. The growth of areas to the south and the east of the city still rose by more than 6%.

Tom Woods, from Knight Frank in Winchester, comments:

“Winchester as a city consistently performs well as a market. Indeed, the figures from this year outperform the country market by some way. This is underpinned by a number of factors, the most important being access to London (an hour by train), excellent schools, both state and private and access to the countryside. As a result the city centre itself has seen major change recently, with a number of excellent shops opening and celebrity chefs such as Rick Stein opening restaurants; his first outside of Cornwall.

“A number of London buyers move to Winchester initially to rent, but then end up staying in the city, making it a perfect stepping stone to a country move. On top of this are downsizers retiring into the city, and constant movers within the city moving up or down the markets.

“In terms of areas, Hyde has seen the most dramatic growth, as well as traditionally strong areas such as St Cross which have a large proportion of family houses with big gardens. St Giles Hill is also popular for people looking for larger family houses. My ‘tip’ as it were would be Fulflood and out to Chilbolton Avenue which is around the station

and with a Waitrose in that area, and Westgate secondary school which performs well. I think this area will continue to go from strength to strength.

“For 2016, we anticipate that the strong performance will continue in the city, driven by a shortage of supply, which was especially noticeable in 2015 and without doubt contributed to the price growth we have seen.”