This is a large rise from the street’s average value of 5,007,300 in last year’s report, when Victoria Road came in 10th position. This jump in rankings can partly be explained by an extremely high sale price of over £11 million in 2010.
Ingram Avenue comes in second place, for the third year in a row, with an average value of £6,419,400. This street has risen in value from last year, when the average property was worth £6,085,800.
In third place this year is last year’s number 1, Chester Square, with an average value of £6,312,400. The average value of this street has fallen from last year, when the figure was £6,596,000.
Chester Square has experienced two sales in the last year of £3.5 and £3.8 million, lower than the extremely high sale prices seen in previous years, such as the £7 million sale towards the end of 2009. In 2008, there were four mega-sales, where properties sold for between £12.2 and £19.7 million. These amazing prices helped Chester Square jump to the top of the rankings in both the 2009 and 2010s reports, while the lower recent sales have resulted in the street falling to third place.
Interestingly, out of the 20 streets, 14 are located in The Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea. This is even more than in last year’s report, when there were 12. This highlights Kensington and Chelsea’s great popularity amongst the rich. Barnet is the borough that holds the second highest number of streets, with 4 entries on the top 20 list.
The other boroughs that appear in the rankings are the City of Westminster (which contains Chester Square, ranked number 3). Neither Haringey nor Camden appear in the rankings, despite being listed last year.
The postcode area that appears most frequently in the rankings is W8 (in Kensington and Chelsea), with 7 entries. SW3, also in Kensington and Chelsea, appears 6 times. NW3 appears twice, while the remaining 5 postcodes are all different.
As in previous years, a number of distinct patterns exist in the rankings, with clusters of expensive streets gathered in small areas. The largest cluster can be found in Kensington and Chelsea, close to Fulham Road the Chelsea and Westminster Hospital. The streets in this group include: Carlyle Square (number 5), Mulberry Walk (number 6), Manresa Road (number 8), Gilston Road (number 11) and Chelsea Park Gardens (number 20).
This cluster can be found below the South Kensington tube station and is demarcated by the King’s Road to the south and Old Brompton Road to the north. The area is one of the most exclusive places to live in the country and that the high sales prices are not limited to one particular street.
Another cluster of high-performing streets is the group to the west of Gloucester Road and Palace Gate. These streets are also in Kensington and Chelsea, but in the W8 postcode district. It is also demarcated by Kensington High Street to the north and Cromwell Road to the south. Streets here are quiet and leafy residential areas.
The group includes: Victoria Road (ranked number 1), Eldon Road (number 9) and Douro Place (number 18).
The next cluster is relatively close to the previous group, in Kensington and Chelsea W8. The group is located to the east of Holland Park and to the west of Kensington Church Street, with Notting Hill Gate underground to the north. The cluster includes: Essex Villas (number 10), Upper Phillimore Gardens (number 16) and Phillimore Gardens (number 19).
One small grouping of streets can be found adjacent to Hampstead Golf Club in Barnet, North London. These roads are: Ingram Avenue (ranked number 2) and Winnington Road (number 7). The roads are located south of Hampstead Garden Suburb, west of Highgate Golf Club and north of Hampstead Heath.
A pair of clustered streets can be found to the east of South Kensignton tube in SW3. The roads are: Egerton Crescent (number 4) and Alexander Square (number 15). These roads are south of the Victoria and Albert Museum and south west of Harrods.
The final cluster can be found in Barnet, NW3, between Finchley Road and Hampstead Heath. They include: Eden Close (number 8) and Elm Walk (11).
Kensington Palace Gardens, a street containing hugely expensive properties, was not included in the rankings. This is because there were not enough sales recorded within the Land Registry price paid dataset for it to be considered; there have only been 3 transactions recorded since 1995.
As many of the properties on this road are not listed as residential, their sale prices are not recorded within the Land Registry price paid dataset. As these rankings are based on Land Registry sales, the street is unlikely to ever make it into the rankings.
Bishops Avenue, another well known exclusive street, was not included in the top 20 this year, as it fell just outside of the rankings. The two most recent sales in 2010 were for around £2.5 million.
