Meet: Stewart Boyd, director and owner of Winkworth Kensal Rise & Queen’s Park

Stewart Boyd                                                                Sales team

We sat down with Stewart from local estate agents Winkworth Kensal Rise & Queen’s Park to have a chat and to get the local property market low down. Read on…

Tell us a bit about yourself?
I’m from Scotland originally – my family moved down when I was 12 and I lost my accent sadly! I’ve been doing estate agency in the area for 20 years. I fell into it but found I had a love for meeting people and helping them move forwards in their life through property. I naturally love property – I spend a LOT of time on Rightmove looking at properties across the country!

I’m a family man, with 2 kids under 5. We live in Queen’s Park now, but my wife and I have done multiple renovations in the area over the years, so I know this area inside out.

Over the years I’ve worked my way up to become director and owner of the business, alongside my partner in crime Aaron Priscott, my fellow business owner who heads up our lettings team. We are proud to be Kensal & Queen’s Park locals, there is something really special about the community spirit of this area so it’s easy for us to convince buyers and tenants how good it is to live here!

Can you tell us a little about Winkworth Kensal Rise & Queen’s Park?
I’m really proud of our track record, according to Rightmove statistics we’ve been #1 for sales and lets in Kensal Rise and Queen’s Park for 6 years running. I put that down to several things:

Our market knowledge – we have deep market knowledge of this area driven by our no.1 position over the years – we literally have dealt with more transactions than other agents every year for the last 6 years, that and the fact that most of the team lives in the area, we know it inside out.

Our accurate valuations – we won’t over value your property just to get you to instruct with us. That’s just not how we work. We value aggressively but realistically and then work our socks off to get you the best possible price.

Our hard work ethic – every single one of our team will go above and beyond to complete a transaction. All of my team have been in the industry for a decade or more. We have experienced professionals who view this work as their long term career, which adds to the success of our clients.

Our people – they’re genuine people you can talk to and trust. Estate agents have never had a great rep, I think we can all agree, and we have fought hard over the years to change people’s view on that. I like to think we have been pretty successful so far.

Finally, we are uniquely positioned in a way. We own and run our business ourselves, but we are backed by the Winkworth brand, which has excellent awareness and reputation throughout London.

Our key stats over last 12 months:

Average of 99.1% of asking price achieved

33% price reduction rate vs 71% by biggest competitor (source is Rightmove 2022)

Our fall through rate is 18% which is around half the London Average

62.8% of our sales business is repeat business or recommendation

                         (From Winkworth Kensal Rise & Queen’s Park transaction record)

It feels like the area has been on the up for a while now. What trends have you seen over time in Kensal & Queen’s Park?
For sure, we have seen the area change massively over the years. It’s now one of the most popular areas in London, especially for families. I don’t necessarily like the connotations of the word gentrification, but the area has been historically undervalued given its quality housing stock, the fact its zone 2 London and the amazing transport links it offers. There has been a big boom in property prices vs. 15 years ago. We have seen an influx of affluent buyers from central London as well as people from neighbouring areas such as Notting Hill and Maida vale, looking for more space and better value for money.

Interestingly, most of the house price inflation in the area since previous peaks in 2016 has been on family homes, highlighting the popularity of these properties with London buyers.

What’s happening in the market right now?
As you might expect, given the newspaper headlines, the actual rise in the cost of financing and general cost of living, the market has been in a state of flux since the start of this year. Moves are still being made however there is a bit of an expectation gap between vendors and buyers in terms of value which we are working to close. The levels where new agreements are being made will set the tone for the rest of the year.

The longer-term forecast is positive, borrowing rates are already coming down and some lenders are offering less than base rate even now, which indicates they are confident in the UK property market outlook and want to lend. Over the years, our area has proven to be fairly bulletproof – our business has lived through 3 of these cycles (2008 recession, Brexit etc.) and there is no doubt in my mind the area will remain very popular.

What are your favourite haunts in the area?
Cable for coffee, Milk beach for brunch, and the Salusbury pub will always hold a special place in my heart – it’s where my now wife and I had our first date many moons ago!

Contacts:
Stewart Boyd
Director & Business Owner
+44 (0) 20 8960 4947

Aaron Priscott
Lettings Director & Business Owner
+44 (0) 20 8960 4947

Website: www.winkworth.co.uk/estate-agents/kensal-queens-park

tel:  020 8960 4947

Address: 2, Bridge House, Chamberlayne Rd, London NW10 3NR

Instagram : @winkworth_kensal_queenspark

Opening hours:
Monday – Friday: 9am-6pm
Saturday: 10am – 4pm
Sunday: closed