Best in the borough: new report reveals 10 London postcodes where home buyers can uncover pockets of value
The royal London borough of Kensington and Chelsea is home to Britain's wealthiest home owners, with some of the most expensive properties in the world found lining the streets alongside Kensington Palace.
However, a new report by online estate agent Emoov has pinpointed postcodes within this well-heeled borough, and across the rest of the capital, where home buyers can find the best value for money.
Cheap they are not, but relative pockets of value — where house prices are most significantly lower than the borough average — can be found in central London’s most prized boroughs if you know where to look.
Data source: Propdex.co.uk
CAMDEN, NORTH LONDON
The biggest price gap between a single neighbourhood and the wider borough was found in Camden, routinely one of the three most expensive places to live in the capital with the leafy millionaire enclaves of Hampstead, Highgate and Primrose Hill keeping house prices nudging £1million.
According to the research, the best-value postcode in the borough is WC1H, which takes in the northern part of Bloomsbury up to Euston Road.
House prices in this Zone 1 location average £445,000, only marginally higher than the £425,000 average first-time buyer home in the capital.
It is also 47 per cent lower than the borough-wide house price of £847,000.
Bordered by King’s Cross St Pancras on one side and the British Museum on the other, the area combines convenience with history.
One of Camden’s most central locations, Bloomsbury’s WC1H postcode is less expensive than you might expect, largely due to a lingering negative perception of nearby King’s Cross, according to Gabriela Moglan, sales consultant at Portico Bloomsbury.
“My buyers consider this an area where they don’t want to buy because of the bad reputation of King’s Cross. This has changed a lot with all the new development happening around there, but many buyers still have that impression,” she said.
“There are also a lot of ex-council properties in the area, which keeps prices lower. For a two-bedroom ex-council flat you would pay between £500,000 and £600,000, if it’s not ex-council the price would probably be closer to £1 million."
KENSINGTON & CHELSEA, WEST LONDON
Mostly found north of the Westway, the postcode of W10 is home to the scruffier end of Notting Hill's Portobello Road market, as well as the Grade II-listed architectural landmark of Trellick Tower — and Kensington & Chelsea’s cheapest housing.
Homes in North Kensington cost an average of £711,000 – not cheap, certainly, but 47 per cent less than the £1.35 million average for London’s priciest borough.
The Earl’s Court postcode of SW5, also in Kensington and Chelsea, has been uncovered as another pocket of value by the research, with the average house price of £876,000 more than a third lower (35 per cent) than the wider borough average.
EALING, WEST LONDON
The third postcode where buyers can uncover value is UB1, which covers north Southall in the borough of Ealing, where the average house price is £304,000.
This is 38 per cent lower than the Ealing average of £492,000, even though Crossrail is due to stop at Southall station when it finally opens in December 2019. Journey times to Heathrow airport will be cut by 16 minutes, while eight minutes will be trimmed off the journey to Bond Street.
Property prices here remain comparatively low but they have been rising — up 32 per cent on 2015, leading to hopes of a “Woolwich effect” off the back of a planned mega development.
THE REST OF THE BEST
Other postcodes identified as potential opportunities for homebuyers included Mitcham (CR4), Tottenham Hale (N17), Thamesmead (SE28), Northolt (UB5), Morden (SM4) and the tiny north-east stretch of Hackney in the E10 postcode, which mostly covers Waltham Forest.
"What this research shows is that there are bargains to be had in every area of London, at every rung of the ladder and every price bracket," said Russell Quirk, founder and CEO of Emoov.co.uk.
"You might wish to live in Westminster W1K, but if the average house price of £3.6m is too steep, you can live in W9, which is considerably cheaper [with an average price of £687,000], while avoiding a move outside of the borough.”