Buying in Battersea: new homes for first-time buyers in popular SW11 start at just £130k for a 30 per cent share

Before the railways arrived in south London and made Clapham Junction the centre of Battersea’s universe, the heart of the area was further north, on the banks of the Thames.

Battersea Village was an ancient rural outpost where food was grown for the city. There has been a church there since the ninth century.

But when Clapham Junction station opened in the 19th century, attention turned away from the village and its cottages were replaced by factories and warehouses.

Today, however, anybody who ventures to Battersea Square will witness a 21st-century revival of this urban village.

New cafés and restaurants have started to appear around the square, from Gordon Ramsay’s London House with its divine garden terrace, to the more casual Queenswood, for all-day dining and cocktails. You can eat and drink alfresco, weather permitting.

Next morning you might spot the Duke of Cambridge on the school run because Prince George attends the nearby Thomas’s prep school.

In the streets around Battersea Square new homes are being built, inevitably, but first-time buyers can get in on the action with a shared-ownership flat at Diamond Wharf in Gwynne Road, priced from £130,500. That’s less than a quarter of the price of an average flat in SW11.

Despite its name, Diamond Wharf is actually just inland of the Thames, and half a mile from Clapham Junction.

Gwynne Road, narrow and lined with new and ex-local authority blocks, doesn’t have kerb appeal but the flats themselves are smart and high-spec with private balconies, integrated Neff kitchen appliances and underfloor bathroom heating.

The 14-storey building will have shops on the ground floor, which should help bring some life to the street.

Location is the big selling point here. Clapham Junction has quick links to central London and there are proposals for a footbridge across the Thames at nearby Lombard Road, which would provide a direct pedestrian and cycle link over the river to Imperial Wharf.

There is a small park, Harroway Gardens, almost at the foot of the building, and Battersea Park is a 15-minute walk away.

For shops, eating and drinking, there is Battersea itself, but for a quieter, more authentic feel try one of Battersea Village’s restaurants or pubs.

Brunch at Flour to the People! is recommended, along with a drink and an attempt at the pub quiz at The Candlemaker, or dinner at Argentinian/Italian fusion restaurant Bariloche.

On a more practical note there is a small supermarket and, along Battersea Park Road, a range of independent shops. Latchmere Leisure Centre has a pool and gym.

A little further afield, regenerating Battersea Power Station, with its increasing array of shops, restaurants, cafés and arts centres, is a half-hour stroll through Battersea Park. Or you could walk across the river to King’s Road.

Diamond Wharf homes go on sale at the end of the month and prices will start at £130,500 for a 30 per cent share of a one-bedroom flat with a full market value of £435,000.

Buyers will need to budget for rent of £571 a month, service charge of £137 and mortgage repayments of about £679. The one-bedroom flats are reserved for buyers with a household income of £50,000 or less.

Two-bedroom flats start at £181,200 for a 25 per cent share of a home valued at £725,000, and monthly costs include rent of £272, service charge of £178 and mortgage repayments of around £943. These homes are earmarked for buyers with a household income of no more than £71,000.

There is also a three-bedroom flat, priced at £246,500 for a 29 per cent share. The rent on this property will be £845 a month with service charge at £230 a month and mortgage repayments an estimated £1,284.

The homes are being sold by PA Housing.

Priority will be given to people who live or work in Wandsworth and are registered on Wandsworth council’s housing register (housesales@wandsworth.gov.uk).

Homes in SW11 have been holding their own during the turbulent Brexit years.

Prices have slipped, but only marginally, over the last two years from an average £897,000 to £886,000 according to the latest data from Rightmove.

An average flat in this glitzy postcode would cost £617,000, making it beyond reach of most first-time buyers.

The best value for money is generally to be found in the streets north of Clapham Junction where, like Diamond Wharf, industrial sites are rapidly being redeveloped and there are purpose-built blocks, plus some odd streets of period homes that survived the Blitz.

With a budget of £500,000 buyers could pick up a two-bedroom portered ground-floor apartment handy for Battersea Park. John D Wood has a flat in a mansion block in Prince of Wales Drive, for example, opposite the park, for sale for £495,000.

It’s near local shops and restaurants and there are buses to Chelsea, the West End and the City. Call 020 8012 1759.

Alternatively, Bairstow Eves has a two-bedroom “front-row” purpose-built first-floor flat with a private balcony, right on the river at Oyster Wharf in Lombard Road, with a guide price of £450,000. Call 020 8012 1703.

If you have up to £400,000 to spend and want two bedrooms, you are going to be looking at either ex-local authority or flats over shops, at about £350,000 — but a one-bedroom flat would be no problem. Chestertons has one in Battersea Rise at £385,000. Call 020 8012 3887.

Or KFH has a modern flat near Diamond Wharf for £399,950. Call 020 8012 2737.