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As the BBC move out, Shepherd's Bush switches to a new programme
As Aunty leaves the Bush the borough seizes the opportunity to create a proper neighbourhood.
Spotlight on Camden Town
The shops and markets clustered around the high street and canal make Camden one of the most colourful of London's neighbourhoods. The area's period homes and loft-style apartments attract a mix of homebuyers.
Revealed: from Reading to Redhill – the top 20 commuter stations
Choose your route. Our exclusive property buyers’ guide shows travel times, costs and house prices.
My design London - Russell Norman
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Find a rated tradesman
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Buy of the week: Camden Town
This two-bedroom flat has a pretty park on its doorstep, while buzzing Camden Town is only 10 minutes’ walk away. Big sash windows and high ceilings give a spacious feel and there’s a private garden with a studio/home office (£525,000).
Swap of the week: Willersey, Glouc
This little Cotswolds beauty is just across the road from the village green and duck pond. For £530,000 you get beams, exposed stone walls and an open fireplace, plus four bedrooms, a useful attic room and lush gardens to enjoy.
Life-changer: Trescowe, Cornwall
For a project brimming with potential, what about this coastal home, yours for £545,000? The family space includes six bedrooms, while its collection of outbuildings overlooking an acre of gardens could become income-generating holiday lets.
Spotlight on Camden Town
The shops and markets clustered around the high street and canal make Camden one of the most colourful of London's neighbourhoods. The area's period homes and loft-style apartments attract a mix of homebuyers.
Property search
The great docklands fire sale
Hundreds of never-lived-in new apartments — all failed completions in the same Docklands development — are to be sold at 40 per cent less than their original owners paid for them two years ago, says David Spittles
From £160,000: Indescon Court, a new apartment complex only five-minutes’ walk from the Canary Wharf business district
Many of the original buyers were buy-to-let investors who have been unable to secure mortgages on the properties and have therefore defaulted.
“This is no gimmick,” says Galliard’s Madeleine Flower. “We need to sell quickly to keep our bank happy.”
Galliard conducted a similar “fire sale” of flats at a block in Poplar in the summer of 2009. Then, a queue of 500 people clamoured to buy a property, enticed by adverts claiming discounts of up to 50 per cent below original contract prices. Two-thirds of the flats were purchased by owner-occupiers.
“The reduced prices at Indescon Court represent a big saving, and are probably the lowest the Canary Wharf area has seen for a decade,” she adds. “This could be the last opportunity to buy at the bottom of the market.”
On average, the revised prices equate to about £500 per sq ft. At the peak of the boom in 2006, values in this part of Docklands reached nearly £1,000 per sq ft.
Would-be buyers will be able to view the finished flats at Indescon Court
Underground parking spaces are available by separate negotiation. Call 020 7620 1500 or visit www.galliardhomes.com.
A second phase of Indescon Court, yet to be built, will bring the total number of apartments to 364.
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