INSIGHT Rising Marylebone 2014 2014 rising marylebone Marylebone enters London’s super-prime league Sales in the £10m-plus bracket in Marylebone have traditionally been “ Prices in Marylebone scarce but three in the last six months of 2013 and an expanding grew 8.5% in the six months to December pipeline of luxury developments show the area is moving up a gear. 2013, faster than any other central London Over the last 20 years, the Howard de Walden high-quality Regency and Georgian housing area tracked by estate has transformed Marylebone from a stock and a village-like feel centred on Knight Frank.” district of charity shops into one of quirky the independent retailers of Marylebone Christian Lock-Necrews, upmarket boutiques and fine dining. High Street. Head of Marylebone Office The 92-acre area south of Regent’s Park is As developers meet this demand with a now entering a new era as its housing seals growing supply of homes in Marylebone that its place in London’s premier league. cater to the tastes of the super-rich, it confirms the district’s place in London’s £10 million-plus On the demand side of the equation, super-prime league, as figure 1 below shows. domestic and overseas buyers are increasingly seeking value-for-money beyond After one or two off-market £10 million-plus Mayfair, Belgravia and Knightsbridge, the sales since 2007, there were three open-market traditional epicentre of prime central London, deals in the second half of 2013 and a fully- and many are crossing Oxford Street north fledged super-prime development pipeline into Marylebone. is taking shape at the start of 2014 due to a recent series of deals by developers. Some have been pushed out by high prices as overseas money pours into the safety They include schemes at the top of Portland of London’s best-known prime residential Place and Park Crescent, Moxon Street car areas. Others are jumping, attracted by park, New Cavendish Street, and International Marylebone’s aura of unconventionality, House on Chiltern Street, which should Figure 1 Prime to Super-prime Top Marylebone sales 2013 was the year Marylebone property went super-prime with three £10 million-plus sales. Figures shown are top sales in each year £14m £12m £12.7m £10m £10M ”SUPER-PRIME“ BENCHMARK £8m £7.6m £7.0m £6m £6.8m £4m £2m 2010 2011 2012 2013 £0m Maximum sales value Average top 5 sales value £10m ”super-prime“ benchmark £5m ”prime“ benchmark Source: Knight Frank 2 KnightFrank.co.uk help bring a dozen or more homes in the Over 2013, prices rose 12.3% versus 5.8% £10m-plus price bracket to Marylebone. in Mayfair, 6.7% in Knightsbridge and 7.5% across the whole of prime central London. It has pushed development activity to record highs. Marylebone has more than £1 billion Two schemes completed this year have of residential property in the development helped set a new benchmark for luxury in pipeline compared to a typical level of less Marylebone: 7 Portland Place, developed than £100 million over the last decade. by Galliard Homes, and 50 Hallam Street, developed by Amazon Properties, where The area has 2,266 private units in planning or prices range from £2,500 to £3,000 per sq ft. under construction, which is four times higher That compares to £4,000 to £5,000 per sq ft than Knightsbridge, 40% more than Belgravia for the top end of Mayfair. and 16% higher than Mayfair. Furthermore, the southern chunk of Marylebone is located within a ten-minute Housing market walk of what will become a Crossrail station at Bond Street in 2018. Knight Frank expects Sales additional capital value growth of 1% on top of any background price growth within the Average Marylebone house and flat prices are ten-minute range, according to the Action 4,025 currently about 40% lower than Mayfair and Square feet £5 million will buy in Stations report. prime Marylebone Knightsbridge, as shown in figure 2. The same impact is expected for areas While this gap is narrowing, it is still wide of Bloomsbury and Fitzrovia further east enough to attract buyers looking for medium after the opening of the Tottenham Court to long-term price growth in a central London Road Crossrail station and there has been market that Knight Frank expects to slow to a significant increase in interest from 4% in 2014 and zero in 2015 before turning developers and investors in these areas. positive again. Figure 3 shows the population of Marylebone Prices in Marylebone grew 8.5% in the six is less transient than Mayfair or Belgravia, months to December 2013, faster than any with a higher percentage of housing used as other central London area tracked by the primary residence, underlining the area’s Knight Frank. stronger sense of community. Figure 2 Bang for your buck: How much space £5 million buys 5,000 sq ft Houses Apartments 4,000 sq ft 3,000 sq ft 2,000 sq ft 1,000 sq ft 0 sq ft Belgravia Kensington Knightsbridge Marylebone Mayfair Source: Knight Frank 3 Rentals Prime rents in Marylebone have bucked As a result, developers have converted the downwards trend across the rest of many properties from office to residential, In addition to the cultivation of high-end central London in 2013 and it was the particularly in listed buildings and on more shops and restaurants, The Howard de only central London district to show popular streets, a trend that includes the Walden estate and Portman Estate, which Hallam Street and Portland Place schemes. positive growth of 1.4%, partly thanks to includes part of Oxford Street, Baker Street the success of a Crown Estate development As well as being home to Madame Tussauds and Marylebone Road, are active in the on Regent Street. and the Sherlock Holmes Museum, redevelopment and refurbishment of their Marylebone has traditionally been an residential stock. Office to residential embassy heartland, with 19 diplomatic It helps keep the level of private renters high missions located in the district. at 53% versus 40% in the wider Westminster Development land and new build property With cost-cutting high up the agenda district. While a high number of renters can is limited in Marylebone, which means it of many governments, the residential suggest a temporary population, 61% of can be difficult to meet demand for more conversion trend has extended to residents have lived in Marylebone for over popular types of homes such as large lateral embassies as they move out to cheaper six years and 10% all their life, twice as high apartments and trophy homes assembled locations and are replaced with boutique as in Mayfair or Knightsbridge. from blocks of flats. residential schemes. Figure 3 Second homes: Marylebone has a less transient population than other central London areas 11% 11% 10% 9% 68% 70% 72% 77% 21% 19% 18% 14% BELGRAVIA KNIGHTSBRIDGE MAYFAIR MARYLEBONE Primary residence UK 2nd residence Overseas 2nd residence Source: ONS, Westminster Council Case studies: office to residential conversions 7 PORTLAND PLACE 50 HALLAM STREET PARK CRESCENT 19 BOLSOVER STREET Building Headquarters building that Former office building of 150,000 sq ft office space 31,400 sq ft of office space served as the Consulate The Royal Institute of Child within the renowned John Nash and UK Government office Health and Pediatrics designed crescent for Montserrat opposite Regent’s Park Developer Galliard Homes Amazon Properties Plc Amazon Properties Plc Amazon Properties Plc Scheme 7 units 3 lateral luxury apartments Lateral luxury apartments Luxury residential apartments Delivery 2013 2013 2015 2015 Source: Knight Frank 4 Who lives in Marylebone? Marylebone is increasingly popular with from other parts of prime London. Once financial services workers thanks to its quick their children have left home many choose transport links to the City and Canary Wharf. Marylebone to be closer to the theatres City workers make up 24% of sales in the and restaurants of the West End. Knight Frank Marylebone office, joint top 12.3% with Professionals (Figure 4). Twelve nationalities bought residential Price rise in Marylebone in 2013, properties in Marylebone over the past versus 5.8% in Mayfair and 7.5% Such buyers want high specification flats and across prime central London. year, half of which were domestic buyers, lateral living, while international buyers prefer as shown in Figure 5. The fact the apartment blocks with concierge services and second and third-placed nationalities underground parking. were the UAE and Russia demonstrates The area is also growing in popularity among its appeal to traditional Mayfair and so-called ‘empty-nesters’, who are moving Knightsbridge buyers. Figure 4 Marylebone buyers source of wealth 30% 25% 20% £ 15% 10% Figure 5 5% Marylebone buyer nationalities 0% CITY/FINANCE PROFESSIONAL OTHER PROPERTY ENTREPRENEUR INHERITED INDUSTRY Source: Knight Frank CASE STUDIES: The up-sizers The down-sizers A family of three that had lived in Belgravia A couple sold their family home in for ten years were looking for a larger Hampstead after their children left home apartment in the area but couldn’t find and bought a 3,000 sq ft penthouse United Kingdom 50.0% anything they wanted of a sufficient size. in Portland Place to be closer to the United Arab Emirates 13.2% They expanded their search and found a £7.5 restaurants, theatres and shops of the Russian Federation 10.5% million apartment near Regent’s Park that West End. They travel between several China 5.3% cost about £2,400 per sq ft versus £3,500 or homes around the world and wanted the Cyprus 2.6% France 2.6% £4,000 in Belgravia.