There’s more to SW19 than just tennis. We catch up with Mana Legha, director of Winkworth’s new Wimbledon office
You’ve just opened a new office in Wimbledon. What’s your background?
This is my first foray into estate agency. I’d been in retail for 20 years and more recently in property development, while my wife Gabriela has been in property for 16 years. She was selling apartments worth up to £60 million in prime Central London and turned over £120 million on her own in one year. We live nearby in Surbiton and opened this office together seven months ago. Wimbledon seemed the right fit for us – we had our second child two months after opening and we wanted to be local. Now we have a beautiful office on Wimbledon Hill Road near the library and things are good!
What’s the area like?
The tennis is great and so is the shopping, the restaurants, the schools and nurseries and of course the common itself! Our children will go to school locally and the area is popular with families as well as professionals and couples. We tend to find that people come to Wimbledon and stay here for many years, with people moving around within Wimbledon.
And what about the housing stock?
There’s quite a variety, ranging from Victorian terraces to 1930s semis and detached houses. Flats are mostly period conversions, with a few mansion blocks. Houses start at about £650,000 and at the top end Simon Cowell's house is reportedly worth £17 million. It’s a big range – while flats range from £300,000 to £2 million.
How’s the local property market performing at the moment?
It’s on fire - houses are selling within the space of a week. Flats are taking a bit longer as we’re finding people are prioritizing outdoor space. We’ve got enquiries coming from the City and Canary Wharf, or people upsizing locally – a lot of young families. Demand is huge and there isn’t enough stock. There’s massive demand for rentals as well – we’ve had houses at £4,500 a month let within three days and we’re getting regular enquiries from applicants with budgets of £7,000 - £10,000 a month.
Is this a typical summer market?
We’re not sure because it’s early days for us and since the Pandemic trends have changed significantly. We are taking instructions on and we’re focusing heavily on marketing locally including sponsoring the Holy Trinity Primary School summer fair. Tennis season is a busy period for the area and there is a lovely buzz around the town during the fortnight.
What advice would you give to sellers?
If you’re selling a house, even with high demand, you need to price the property realistically otherwise you won’t receive an initial level of interest. Building work is getting much more expensive now, so you’ll need to factor that into the price. If you overprice your house you’ll end up reducing it and then it becomes stale and will take longer to sell. For flat sellers, it’s the same, although selling flats is more of a challenge at the moment. It’s slightly better if there’s a garden, but people are very conscious of high service charges now.
Current best buys with Winkworth Wimbledon - 020 3761 4044
This house in Melbourne Road SW19 is listed at £965,000 and needs work. A nearby house that was done up sold for £1.4 – so if you converted the loft into a fourth bedroom and extended the kitchen, you’d still have a good margin.
In South Wimbledon’s Havelock Road SW19, this two bedroom Victorian house could do with some updating and is on the market at £650,000. It has a good-sized back garden and several period features.
This one-bedroom apartment in a modern block in Palmerston Road SW19 is spacious and well-located for all the amenities of the town centre. It’s priced at £425,000.