Knowing me knowing Kew: your guide to buying and living in this greenest of London areas
For a capital city, London is pretty green – not environmentally, of course – but aesthetically, coming in at number three for green space globally. Kew, however, is pretty green even by London’s standards and its 75 acre botanical gardens are world-renowned. This, coupled with an underground and overground line and good schools, make it a fairly delightful place to live and drives a high demand for property.
“Kew continues to attract families from all over west London,” says Foxtons’ Richmond sales manager Tim Perks. “We also see quite a lot of families moving within the area – once people move here they rarely want to leave.”
But how much does it cost? David Fell, a research analyst at Hamptons International, says average prices stand at £852,087 – 1.7 times the London average – and prices have risen by 15 per cent in the last year.
A main factor in these prices rises isn’t just the London property boom or even that Kew is particularly idyllic, it’s also down to a rising population. According to a report published recently by CBRE Residential, 1,300 households are expected to move to Kew per year up until 2021, but only 774 new homes have been built across the borough since 2009.
While there’s some new development going on – notably by the Berkeley Group, whose St George and St James divisions are behind Kew Bridge and Heritage Walk respectively – and Taylor Wimpey at Emerald Gardens which is due to be finished next year. Across Richmond borough, 38 per cent of homes being built have already sold off-plan.
“Population growth across the wider borough has increased by 16 per cent since 2001 with a further increase of nine per cent expected by 2021,” Jennet Siebrits, head of residential research at CBRE. “As a results of this continued growth, demand is grossly outweighing supply causing a rise in house price across the borough.”
If you do manage to snatch up a home in Kew, though, you’re set to make a decent profit as a result. Families tend to gather around the quieter, semi-detached houses of Kew Green, while the younger crowd go for the two bedroom flats near Kew Road between Richmond and Kew stations. There’s no chance of values falling anytime soon, according to Jamie Brown of Haus Properties, which means, for now, it’s is a pretty safe bet.
“The good thing about Kew is that it’s a relatively stable area when it comes to property. It’s more like a village within London, and prices don’t fluctuate as much as they do the closer you get to central London.” So if you’re tempted to buy into prime central London, remember that the grass is always greener in Kew.
Area Highlights: You may have heard that Kew has something called Kew Gardens, where they grow lots of flowers and children walk around on bridges hanging in the sky like that dream I had one time. For the more practically minded, there’s obviously the world famous London Museum of Water & Steam, which has absolutely heaps of information on h2O in all of its various states, except for frozen, which is banned. For a more musical experience try the Musical Museum, which is all about music and instruments and maybe, if you’re lucky, love. Or go and see the greatest football team in the land – not Leicester but Brentford FC, who kick balls at the family-friendly Griffin Park. If you hate football and the men and women who play it, maybe you’d better check out Kew Palace, although we’re not allowed to tell you who lives there, so don’t even ask.