Recovery in the capital's struggling housing market is largely being driven by positive momentum in up-and-coming neighbourhoods, with some areas seeing price rises of up to 64.5%, according to newly released data.
When compared to the rest of the UK, the London housing market has stuttered over the past couple of years. While the capital’s performance has been far from bad, it hasn’t managed to match the impressive growth seen in other parts of the nation.
Research by London lettings and estate agent, Benham and Reeves, reveals that, in the last year alone, the average Greater London house price has grown by 6.7%, compared to a 12% increase across the UK as a whole.
However, there is increasing confidence that, while gradual, momentum is returning to the London market. The latest research by Benham and Reeves shows that this momentum is being led by a group of up-and-coming neighbourhoods that are proving hugely popular among buyers and, as a result, are enjoying impressive price growth.
Nowhere in London have prices increased more than in the neighbourhood of Churchill in Westminster, a desirable area of Stucco villa properties and the pioneering Churchill Garden Estate. Here, house prices have increased by 64.5% (£392,250) in the past year to sit at a current average of £1m.
In the Wandsworth neighbourhood of Northcote, which connects the north side of Clapham Common with Wandsworth Common, eager buyers have pushed house prices up by 61.4% (£505,500) to an average of £1.3m.
The Wembley Central neighbourhood of Brent has seen prices rise by 51.4% (£190,000), while the average price in the Hammersmith & Fulham neighbourhood of Parsons Green & Walham has increased by 51.3% (£610,000) in the past year.
Impressive house price growth has also been recorded in Merton’s Village neighbourhood (49.3%), Westminster’s Lancaster Gate (49.2%), Merton’s Merton Park (44.1%), Hackney’s Stamford Hill West (42.4%), Merton’s Wimbledon Park (39.1%), and the St Katharine's & Wapping neighbourhood in Tower Hamlets (39.1%).
Marc von Grundherr, Director of Benham and Reeves, commented: “London has largely trailed the rest of the UK where recent house price performance is concerned, but while the capital’s property market may have been somewhat muted throughout the pandemic, it’s far from falling out of favour.
"At the same time, the diversity of the London market makes it a fascinating one as there’s no real London house price, with property values and performance differing drastically from one neighbourhood to the next, depending on where has and hasn’t fallen out of fashion.
"As a result, there are many pockets of the London property market that have enjoyed some quite remarkable house price growth of late and they aren’t confined to any one corner of the capital.”