London's famous Oxford Street is being turned into £1m+ residential housing district
London’s famous Oxford Street is being transformed into a residential district, according to a property survey conducted by luxury estate agent Aston Chase.
The group found that there are now more new homes being built on Oxford Street than there are shops after the road, which has half a million daily visitors, has undergone a £1.06bn ($1.35bn) building boom over the last few years.
The survey found that there are now 437 new homes being built versus 248 shops.
But those residential addresses don’t come cheap — the starting price for apartments come in at £950,000 and typically go up to £4.5m. Highest demand is for flats are priced from £2,000 to £2,500 per square foot, although some apartments are priced up to £5,000 per square foot.
In fact, Mark Pollack, co-founding director at Aston Chase said in a statement sent to Yahoo Finance UK that his group sold a 4,000 square foot penthouse off-plan apartment from the the Rathbone Place project by Oxford Street for £15.25 million to a Scandinavian buyer.
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“This is one of the biggest residential deals on Oxford Street and demonstrates both how the location has changed, but also underlines the quality of the apartments and penthouses being built around Oxford Street,” he said.
Oxford Street has a number of major building projects underway. For example, there are nine residential-led projects near Centrepoint, which will provide 82 apartments and 39,000 square foot of retail space.
One project by developer Oakmayne Bespoke, Verge Mayfair, is provides 12 apartments, priced from £950,000. Like other developments, Verge Mayfair used to be an office building.
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Meanwhile the £140m TCRW Soho project provides 92 premium apartments with studios starting at £990,000. Three bedroom apartments at TCRW Soho have a starting price of £2.35m.
“Oxford Street and the surrounding roads and lanes are becoming more residential, with new apartments behind built above boutique shops,” said Pollack.
“During the 18th Century Oxford Street was a residential address and the return to more housing provision is perhaps not surprising given that Oxford Street fronts onto Mayfair, Marylebone and Fitzrovia, all of which are established, highly desirable, residential addresses.
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“Technology and the internet have also changed the face of retailing. Advances in logistics mean that stores no longer require large stockroom areas on their upper floors, so new development can provide retail on the ground and basement levels, with new apartments above.”
