House prices in London are not rising in the way they once did. So where should savvy buyers look for what they hope will turn out to be a “good buy”?
“For people still clinging to the hope of buying a property, earning equity, and being able to move up the property market, a rising market is a great place to be,” says Daniel O’Brien, director of estate agent Aucoot.
But where to find these pockets of optimism in an otherwise beleaguered market. Exclusive research from estate agents Hamptons has pinpointed the best-performing neighbourhoods in travel zones 1-4 for buyers priced out of the capital’s most established areas and determined not to add an extra zone to their Oyster, or for those willing to move a little further out for value and potential price growth.
There is, of course, a flip side to buying in a rising market — vendors see their neighbours selling for strong prices and want the same for themselves, making negotiation on price tricky.
“In a falling market you have got much more leverage and there is a lot less evidence for a seller to use against you,” says Guy Meacock, director of buying agency Prime Purchase. “It is harder to haggle in a rising market than it is in a falling one.”
Bargain codes: zone by zone
- If your number one priority is value for money, Hamptons’ research also identifies the most affordable spots in each transport zone in London.
- If you aspire to a home in the heart of London, but your champagne tastes are hamstrung by a beer budget, then WC1H, on the borders of King’s Cross and Bloomsbury, is your happy hunting ground. Average houses here cost an ouch-inducing £2m, but flats sell for £478,000.
- The best value to be found in Zone 2 is in Deptford (SE8), where average prices stand at £639,000 for a house or £432,000 for a flat.
- In Zone 3 buyers looking for bang for their buck should head out to Plaistow (E13), where they can pick up a house for an average £438,000, and a flat for £295,000.
- Right out in the burbs the cheapest option for buyers in Zone 4 is Thamesmead (SE28) — with average prices standing at £330,000.
Zone 1
If fomo about missing out on potential price growth trumps your desire to do a deal, then in the centre of London the two postcodes performing the best right now are WC1H and W1U. Both have seen prices rise by 12 per cent year on year.
WC1H is the no man’s land across Euston Road from the regenerated King’s Cross. You could pick up an average apartment for less than £500,000, making it the cheapest corner of Zone 1. W1U, on the west side of Marylebone, will require a bigger budget, since flats trade at an average £2.1m, and houses at £4.2m.
Meacock believes that the reason for these areas’ current popularity is that they are — by comparison to their neighbours — good value. And their only real fault is that they are a five minutes longer walk from the centres of King’s Cross and Marylebone High Street respectively.
“West Marylebone has always been slightly more affordable than more central areas,” he says. “It has something to do with being closer to the Edgware Road, which does cast a bit of a cloud over the area.”
If you can overlook that then W1U has much going for it — beautiful residential streets and squares, less tourists than Marylebone Village, and landowner The Portman Estate is investing in smartening up Old Quebec Street and curating a smart range of cafés and restaurants to give the area its own local high street.
Zone 2
St John’s Wood, beloved of American expats and affluent families in search of green space and great schools, is Zone 2’s best performer of the past year. Average prices have jumped 15 per cent during that period, although — again — you will need deep pockets to follow the crowd. Average houses sell for more than £6.6m, and apartments for almost £1.2m.
Zone 3
Upper and Lower Clapton (E5) have had a fabulous year, with prices up 17 per cent year on year. Houses on the fringes of Hackney Marshes trade at just over £1m, and flats at £426,000.
O’Brien says that many of his buyers don’t have Clapton top of their list when they go out house-hunting. “But when they weigh up how expensive it is in London Fields, or De Beauvoir Town, or Stoke Newington, they realise that they can get everything they want in Clapton for less money. They can still cycle to work, they can go out on a Saturday and get a coffee from an independent café.”
And while trying to haggle in a market where there is plentiful competition from other buyers might sound like an uphill struggle, O’Brien says that deals can be done. “There are those homes which need work, and those which have been fully renovated,” he says. “The homes which need work are seeing some better-value deals.”
Zone 4
Sydenham has seen average sale prices jump an impressive 13 per cent in the past year, to £551,000. Former teacher-turned-civil-servant Dominic Lee and his wife Laura have seen the value of their family home surge in the past five years, too. They paid £595,000 for the property in 2021. Following renovation work it is now valued at £750,000. The couple owned a one-bedroom flat in Forest Hill and loved the area for its cool cafés and pubs. But they quickly realised that an influx of buyers priced out of Dulwich had pushed up local house prices beyond their reach.
So they did what generations of buyers have done before them and looked a little further along the railway line. Little did they know that by moving a mile they were buying into a bona fide property hotspot.
The impetus for Dominic and Laura, both 38, to move was a desire to have a family. The couple now have a three-year-old son and a one-year-old daughter, and home is a three-bedroom Victorian terrace. “I am really taken with Sydenham,” says Dominic. “It has got a nice community feel, and it is semi-gentrified. The high street is more prosaic and practical than Forest Hill but that is changing — I like the Blackbird café, and there are a couple of good pubs, The Dolphin and The Greyhound.” Dominic is also impressed by the local primary schools.
Jonathan Lawrie, head of sales at John D Wood estate agents, said the market is being driven on buyers like Dominic, pushed out of neighbouring areas by rising prices. “Sydenham is on the borders of Dulwich and East Dulwich, Crystal Palace, and prices there have shot up,” he says.
He thinks buyers pick Sydenham for its leafiness, good transport links and schools, period homes, and for its improving offering of pubs and cafés.
“Of course it has impacted the market,” says Lawrie about the war in the Middle East and rising interest rates. “But we are still selling properties. It is price sensitive but there is still a market there if the price is right.”
