Chelsea – The Pick Of The Property Bunch

The annual RHS Chelsea Flower Show is generally regarded not only as a highlight of the social calendar, but the start of the Season. Located in front of Chelsea’s historic Royal Hospital, close to Prime Purchase’s London office, it showcases the area just as much as the gardens on display.

Rarely is Chelsea not on a client’s list of desirable places to buy, budget allowing, and it’s probably fair to say that it’s more popular than many other sought-after districts of London. It’s not hard to see why either. Chelsea is an urban village with a strong sense of community and identity. Its other big draw is that it’s well managed – the Cadogan Estate may not oversee the whole of SW3 but does have a lot of control. There’s plenty of evidence of this, but one notable example is the King’s Road, which manages to be a functioning high street and retain a boutique air.

No longer up-and-coming or edgy as it was in the 1960s in particular, Chelsea is now firmly gentrified. There’s a reassuring consistency – it has a strong legacy but has also managed to reinvent itself quite well.

US buyers love Chelsea, particularly as many of are currency-driven at the moment. There are also European and Asian buyers but not quite the same demand from the Middle Eastern market as they tend to stick with Knightsbridge and Belgravia, but it’s also perennially popular among British buyers.

Post-pandemic, there’s a marked return in demand for pieds-a-terre and Chelsea satisfies such a aspirational need comfortably. There’s also a range of architecture ranging from what were small workers’ cottages to huge mansion flats, town houses and multiple garden squares. There are appealing little pockets such as Chelsea Green and even a cricket pitch at Burton Court.

There’s no evidence of prices softening, although there’s a difference between properties that are done and those which are not; a two-tier market almost between houses and flats which need work and those which don’t, with the latter commanding a greater premium than one would expect. This is part of a bigger picture where buyers are thinking twice about taking on projects, thanks to the cost of contractors and materials, plus delays with planning.

This quarter will be a real test for where the market is at; many wealthy buyers are not here in winter, so it’s hard to find a measure of where things lie. It is however fair to say, that the market is slightly tempered and calmer with prices relatively steady. As with other areas, those properties which are blighted or not on the best streets tend to struggle to sell.