As the river flows, Henley’s housing market slows down

Featured Sponsor

Store	Link	Sample Product
UK Artful Impressions	Premiere Etsy Store

Three and a half years after completing the teardown and rebuilding of her family home in Henley-on-Thames, Rebecca Myers, 42, has put it up for sale for £1.7m.

That’s the same price he would have put it on sale a year ago, he says, though the market has slowed markedly since then — a fact he accepts. “The houses today are not doing well: you look at Rightmove and many have been there for quite a while; see different price reductions.

But Myers thinks his home will sell for £1.7m, and if not, he’ll simply live there until demand picks up. “Yes, that would be frustrating, but if all we get are offers at £1.5m, we’ll just take him off the market.”

The affluent Oxfordshire city, long popular with movers leaving London, has seen a surge in home sales since the start of the pandemic, rising 97% in the first two months of 2021 compared to a year earlier, according to right move.

But rising mortgage rates have reduced what buyers can afford or are willing to pay, as many fear prices are set to fall. In the first two months of 2023, the number of home sales agreed in the city was 41% lower than in the same period last year, the real estate portal found.

Carina Clark, sales manager at the Henley office in the Hamptons, says that in about a third of cases, clients ignore her advice and insist that the agency list their homes for more than they’re worth, before lowering prices for lack of interest. “Normally, it takes two to three weeks,” she says.

“People in Henley overestimate the price of the house,” says Stephen Christie Miller, who runs Savills’ Henley office. “All their friends tell them they can get that price and they’re basically spending [the money] before the sale has taken place.

Henley’s appeal is multifaceted: attractive period houses and a good range of restaurants, pubs and art galleries located along and beyond its pretty high street. “It feels like a village,” says Katie, 29, who moved from south-west London, buying a two-bedroom cottage with her partner in September 2021. “You can walk into real countryside in minutes, but at the same time there is a lot going on.

The River Thames, which flows along the eastern edge of the city, is a major attraction. The annual six-day Royal Regatta at the end of next month is the most important of its annual events and is an important date on the social calendar for many. There’s also the Henley Festival – a music and arts festival in the week following the regatta – and a literature festival in the autumn.

The area also offers a diverse range of homes, from sprawling country villas with private river access beyond the city limits, to more affordable flats or small town houses within it, attractive to those relocating from London to looking for garden and more space and – after the pandemic – a decent sized home office.

Katie, who declined to give her last name, bought her house for £550,000. “In south-west London that would have gotten us an apartment or maybe-just-a maisonette with a garden,” she says.

With the growth of home working, many of Henley’s local clubs and businesses are reporting increased demand for their facilities and services at times when users would previously have been working.

A year ago, Phyllis Court, a private club set on 18 acres, comprising a large riverside manor with a hotel, sports and dining facilities, relaxed rules on mobile phone use and a ban on working from the club, and installed a new, faster broadband connection.

“On a daily basis, we will now have up to two dozen people doing serious work — Zoom meetings and so on — and double that number doing some work on a laptop or the occasional phone call,” says Chris Hogan the secretary of the club.

He says the rule changes have drawn criticism from some older members — the average age is 69 — who objected to its use for work.

“Nothing had changed for 20 or 30 years. It was very old-fashioned,” he adds.

Today, the club has 100 people on a waiting list — the first time in its history it has needed them, Hogan says — and membership has increased from a pre-pandemic average of about 3,300 to 3,500 this year, a record size. The club is also more attractive to younger members, Hogan adds, in part because of the greater value it presents to those who spend more time at home and can use the facilities for work or play.

At nearby Henley Rugby Club, commercial director Alistair Beynon has also noticed a change in how and when the club is used.

“Far more parents are taking their kids to midweek training sessions, making use of the time they would otherwise get home from work,” she says. The club also installed better WiFi last fall to make it easier for people to work there during the day.

Homes aren’t going great – you look at Rightmove and many have been there for a while

Thanks to this increased affluence, takings from the cafeteria and bar are above pre-pandemic levels, providing a valuable additional source of revenue, according to Beynon.

After the first Covid outbreak, the club was closed completely until September 2021. Beynon said members and local residents turned out in large numbers to show support last year. But in 2023, ticket sales are down, Beynon says, and membership is dwindling as concern grows about the long-term effects of concussion and more publicity is given to early-onset dementia cases suffered by soccer players. rugby.

“We’re seeing it across the club, but particularly in the mini and junior membership,” he says.

In the past, when there was a shortage of homes for sale in Henley, it was less of a problem, Clark says, as properties often have lots large enough to accommodate home extensions. Today, however, the problem is finding craftsmen to do the work due to rising costs and skills shortages.

He says contractors’ quotes often now go offline for more than a few weeks, or refuse to provide a binding quote altogether, instead charging as they work. “All the time, people ask me if I know any good bricklayers, plumbers, electricians, but it’s become very difficult to connect them.”

Meanwhile, Katie has been waiting two months for a quote for a one-story expansion she’s gotten permission for on her home.

“Getting builders around — or even getting them to respond — is really hard,” he says.

When they planned the job last year, the couple budgeted £100,000. Even without a quote, he expects the final cost to be around £150,000.

Despite the price hike, Myers is still scanning the market for her next home renovation, which she hopes to buy when her current home sells. He estimates that rising material and labor costs will drive his project costs up between 25% and 30% above pre-pandemic levels.

“Yes, we are concerned about this inflation. And it will be difficult to find a place, and we will have to be relatively creative, but I am looking forward to the next project,” she says.

Check out our latest stories first – follow along @FTProperty on Twitter or @ft_houseandhome on Instagram