However, it isn't just the light blues who are winners as new research by online estate agents, HouseSimple.com, reveals that the Boat Race course is lined with property worth on average more than £1.2m.
The 6.8 km course starts at Putney Bridge, and then winds its way past Fulham, Hammersmith, Chiswick, Barnes and finishes just before the Chiswick Bridge at Mortlake.
The average property price increase over the past decade in these six areas is just shy of £380,000, which works out at an annual rise of £37,906 since 2008. Leafy Barnes tops the pile, with an average home costing more than £1.6m (£1,645,810). House prices in Barnes have risen on average £506,508 in the past 10 years.
Despite the high cost of property, average property prices in Putney Bridge, Fulham and Mortlake have actually fallen over the past 12 months as the London market has shown signs of running out of steam. Barnes has bucked that trend with impressive growth of 7.2% since the last Boat Race was held.
The following table shows the main locations along the Boat Race route, the average property prices in those locations and average price increases over the past 10 years.
|
Boat Race locations |
Average Value - 2017 (£) |
Current average value – 2018 (£) |
Avg. price increase in past 10 years (£) |
|
Putney Bridge |
£1,163,727 |
£1,124,336 |
£331,212 |
|
Fulham |
£1,284,318 |
£1,246,510 |
£361,783 |
|
Hammersmith |
£1,026,675 |
£1,041,402 |
£366,455 |
|
Chiswick |
£1,118,804 |
£1,131,982 |
£385,251 |
|
Barnes |
£1,534,862 |
£1,645,810 |
£506,508 |
|
Mortlake |
£1,112,438 |
£1,082,882 |
£323,177 |
Sam Mitchell, CEO of online estate agents Housesimple.com, comments: “The Boat Race always draws an impressive crowd, and tens of thousands of people will line the route on Saturday to watch Oxford and Cambridge battle it out for the 164th time. But after the race is over, if spectators truly want to have their breath taken away, then it’s worth wandering around the local areas, and scanning a few estate agents’ windows.
The course winds its way through some of the most expensive property markets in the UK, where even average houses go for over a million – out of reach for the majority. That’s not to say there aren’t affordable properties in these areas, because there are, but they will get snapped up if they’re competitively priced. Committed buyers need to move quickly when a bargain comes onto the market. They need to have finance in place and be prepared to offer asking price immediately to secure the property.”
