London house prices: properties without outdoor space take "Covid cuts" amid new lockdown fears

Fears of a second lockdown are prompting London buyers and tenants to search for homes with outdoor space. 
Daniel Lynch

Prices and rents for London apartments with no outdoor space are taking “Covid cuts” of up to 10 per cent because of fears of a second lockdown.

Agents say that tenants and buyers are interested in properties with gardens or, at least, terraces and balconies.

The return to full lockdown in Leicester and headlines about spikes in cases in parts of London have raised fears that the recent relaxation could be reversed.

Agents Beauchamp Estates said a 987 sq ft two-bedroom apartment at Clifton Court in Maida Vale they are marketing for £1.2 million would be 10 per cent more if it had outdoor space.

Managing director Jeremy Gee said: “Buyers and tenants have a strong preference for either garden flats or penthouses with terraces, or they want houses with gardens.

"This now means that for a 1,200 sq ft apartment in prime central London, that’s worth £5 million, if it has got an outside terrace, you can sell it for a five per cent premium and it will also attract a high level of applicants.

“Likewise if it’s for rent, you can let it for a five to 10 per cent premium and there will be a queue of tenants interested. Londoners want to feel that they are living in a home where they can have fresh air, lots of sunlight and some sort of interaction with the outdoors.”

He added the pandemic would have an impact on home design: “A new home with no outside space will become like the dodo, extinct.”

Agents Chesterton said it had seen a boom in recent letting activity as tenants scramble to find properties they would be happy to hunker down in.

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