_Come on down, the price is right. Why it could pay to buy a basement flat

I remember visiting a mate at Edinburgh Uni in the late nineties. He told me he lived in a ‘basement apartment’.  Long before my perception had been formed, I thought this sounded pretty cool - on a par with ‘loft apartment’ perhaps.

The flat was indeed very nice, one of the boys’ mother was an interior designer and had made it look very ‘Oka’ or ‘Indian Jane’. I loved it, the decked garden too.

Basement flats, or ‘garden flats’ as I prefer to call them have a hard time for as long as I’ve worked in property. More often than not, they are greeted with a negative response  and are frequently the first to be struck off a viewing tour.

I’d really encourage all buyers, particularly at the start of their search, to leave them on the list at the moment -  you may be pleasantly surprised as you start to compare and contrast options.

The market in South Kensington & Earls Court has reduced by around 5-20% in the last two years, a huge range. Properties which have held their values most are those with strong fundamentals, first floor flats for example.

By contrast, those which have taken the largest knock are basement flats or top floor flats with no lift. However, not all garden flats are created equal, despite many being tarred with the same brush. More so that ever, I believe the pros of buying a lower floor are outweighing the cons.

As a broad sweep exercise, £/sqft ranges in Earls Court & South Kensington (in that order) are currently:- 

• Basement/Garden flats  - £900-£1,000/sqft approx
• Average - £1,400-£1,600/sqft approx
• Top-notch - £1,800-£2,000/sqft+ approx

In other words, a budget of £750,000 could buy you a very small studio flat in a good address like Onslow Gardens, or it could buy you a 750 sq ft two bed/two bath with a garden on prime Earl’s Court garden square. If a first rung on the ladder is, say, for 3-5 years, I know where I’d rather lay my head.

I accept that there are some disadvantages to buying a garden flat  - they can be darker, they will have lower ceilings and you’ll need to have a thorough investigation for damp but you get a long list of pros too...

1) You often get a garden - Flats on the lower ground floor very often have gardens, very often private too.

2) You get more space - Lower ground floors take in hallway and stair space from the upper floors as well as often having space in the old vaults. The resulting space is almost always larger.

3) They are more private and you don’t have to deal with stairs. You also get your own front door a lot of the time. 

4) Best of all, you get tremendous value for money - particularly at the moment where over supply means some top flats are being pushed down the ‘desirability list’.

Over the last 17 years, nearly everyone I’ve met who owns a ‘garden flat’ (or a flat on a main road for that matter) always says the same thing - “We’d never have considered buying a basement but the agent persuaded us and we just fell for the space”. 

I hope that this article or the properties below, if nothing else, persuades you to say “why not?” when an agent asks to add a garden flat to your viewing tour.

A two bedroom apartment with patio in the heart of Earls Court, SW5

Asking price: £750,000

An great lower ground floor apartment in an attractive period building, on a quiet one way street in SW5. 

Accommodation comprises a large reception / dining room with a separate kitchen. The two bedrooms are at the rear of the property leading on to a patio. This property is ideal as a pied-a-terre or as an investment.

Two bedroom apartment for sale in Nevern Square, Earl's Court, London, SW5

Asking price: £1,000,000

Well-presented two double bedroom, lower ground floor apartment ideally laid out with both bedrooms having en-suite bathrooms. The apartment benefits from its own private entrance, sunny patio garden and access to communal gardens.

Two bedroom flat for sale in Kensington Mansions, Trebovir Road, Earls Court, London, SW5

Asking price: £920,000

A spacious two bedroom flat located in a pretty redbrick mansion block close to Earls Court, SW5. The bright apartment benefits from a share of the freehold and has views over the gardens providing natural light.