Beaconsfield — Summer 2021

Beaconsfield market metrics

Like so many towns just outside the M25, Beaconsfield is built on London equity. The steady stream of Londoners arriving in the Home Counties over the last decade has picked up pace during the last 18 months. Nearly half of homes sold in Beaconsfield are now bought by someone moving from the Capital, often West London. If Beaconsfield was the Capital’s 34th Borough, it would be the third most expensive with average prices passing the £1m mark in 2015. But unlike London’s prime markets, prices here have continued on an upward trajectory.

By some margin, Londoners are the largest group of buyers in Beaconsfi eld. Traditionally many would have headed straight for the town's golden triangle – the leafy roads immediately to the South West of the station lined by some of the town's most aspirational homes. However, in the last 18 months, buyers have become more adventurous, heading deeper into the old town as the prospect of a daily commute into the Capital has faded.

Up and down the country, market towns like Beaconsfield have been some of the busiest property markets. Sellers in Beaconsfi eld have achieved 97.3% of their initial asking price so far this year, more than in any year since 2014. And it's a similar story across the rest of the South East too where sellers are pocketing 99.3% of their asking price on average, the highest figure recorded at any time during the last decade.

High house prices mean that time to sell in Beaconsfield stands above the average for the South East, typically because more expensive homes take longer to sell. The figure of 90 days is still, however, at a three year low. While across the wider South East, the average time to find a buyer is at a record low, in the Capital it takes longer to sell a home than in any other region of the country. Given the number of buyers moving from here, this figure is likely to weigh down on the Beaconsfield average.

Price growth in Beaconsfield has outpaced London for the last three years and the South East for a little over a decade. Standing at £1.2m, average values in HP9 are now higher than in any other postcode district outside London. The abundance of detached homes in the area keeps the average price high. Over the last year, 60% of homes sold in Beaconsfield were detached. But despite the high price point, and like across so much of the country, detached and semidetached homes have increased in value faster than smaller homes as the space race continues.

Rental Outlook

With a wider catchment area than most towns of a similar size, Beaconsfield draws in tenants from across London and the South East. Around a quarter of tenants come from the Capital. These tenants are broadly split between families who had been renting in the Capital and are now looking for more space, and those who have sold a home but are renting before buying another one. Upsizing is also common within the town, with tenants looking for more space while staying local.

Rents in Beaconsfield rose 8.6% over the last year, increasing in line with rental growth across the South East. Larger homes and those in the foothills of the Chilterns have recorded the greatest growth. Bigger homes that boast space for a home office and a large garden command higher rents than they did at the start of the pandemic. While the surrounding countryside is increasingly of interest to those who are no longer commuting daily.

Rents in the South East are rising faster than in any other region of the country. While they dipped as the market reopened in Summer 2020, they now stand 16% up on the same time last year. This has been driven by a lack of rental stock, with 52% fewer homes available to let in the South East than two years ago, one of the largest falls recorded in the country.