Richmond has a huge shortfall of new homes, according to a recent report and estate agents in the area.

The warning came as figures from Nationwide showed London property prices surged by nearly 15 per cent in 2013, to an average of £345,186, with a 4.7 per cent rise in the last quarter alone.

A report by property consultant CBRE claimed Richmond was one of the boroughs with the biggest projected shortfalls at 5 per cent, but was ahead of four other boroughs, including neighbouring Kingston, which has a projected deficit of 8 per cent.

Director of Parkgate Estate Agents Marc Roberts said new housing was a problem in Richmond.

He said: “It is clearly a problem in any built up areas with no land other than greenbelt land to build on.

“Almost all of the property is resale and there is almost nothing available on Rightmove or Zoopla that is newly built which clearly highlights that this problem is correct.

“The riverside is already pretty well built up which seems to be the area most new apartments have been growing into in recent years in the south-west of London so without completely redeveloping the riverside it will remain unlikely that the amount of new build properties will increase anytime soon.”

Last year, developer London Square announced it wanted to transform the Royal Star and Garter home on Richmond Hill into 90 one to six-bedroom flats in a £50m development project.

In Richmond, one bedroom flats range from £350,000 to £550,000, but a larger four to five-bedroom terraced house would cost between £1.5m and £3m.

In Ham and Petersham, a four to five-bedroom family home can be bought for less than £1.5m, while places such Kew, Sheen and St Margarets have lower prices than central Richmond.