Clapham Park Estate: rare new-build flats in South Clapham for sale for first-time buyers

For decades Clapham has been the convenient go-to location for new graduates with a first job in London.

Throw in demand from affluent families and Clapham property prices have increased by well over 150 per cent since 2000, to an average today of more than £600,000.

According to Rightmove, the typical starter flat in SW12 now costs more than £497,000, and aspiring buyers would need almost £50,000 just to provide a basic deposit.

But a new scheme in South Clapham offers first-time buyers the chance to move in for less than £100,000, with a deposit of less than £5,000.

SO Resi Clapham Park (www.soresi.co.uk) sits to the south, between Clapham Junction and Streatham Hill, in walking distance of Clapham Common, Stockwell Park, Balham and Tooting.

The compromise is that the nearest station, Clapham South, on the Northern line in Zone 2, is a 20-minute walk away.

But if you don't mind that, this scheme represents a very rare chance to buy into one of south London's most expensive suburbs for less than six figures.

Open-plan one-bedroom flats start at £99,500 for a 25 per cent share. Buyers will need to put down a deposit of £4,975 and monthly costs are just under £1,300, including rent of £684, mortgage repayments of about £498 and service charge of £96.

Two-bedroom flats start from £145,875, again for a 25 per cent share. The deposit for a two-bedroom flat starts at £7,294 and the monthly costs add up to just under £1,840. This includes rent of £1,002.89, mortgage repayments of £730.72 and service charge at £104. All homes have a private balcony or terrace.

"We expect the homes to be a huge hit with first-time buyers who aspire to live in Clapham but never imagined they could afford to do so. Buying through shared ownership makes this possible," says Esaiyas Mollallegn, head of marketing at housing association Metropolitan Thames Valley.

The homes are part of a massive ongoing regeneration of the Clapham Park estate which eventually will include 2,500 homes on its 89-acre site, plus a new park, community centre, school and shops. Some 500 new homes have already been built.

And while there are scant really on-the-doorstep things to do, Brixton Hill is a 10-minute walk away, and from there you can work your way through many bars, pubs and restaurants all the way to Electric Avenue.

The average first-time buyer budget of about £420,000 doesn't go awfully far in SW12 but it is possible to get in — just — with a one-bedroom period conversion apartment priced between £400,000 and £450,000.

Lauristons estate agents has a splitlevel flat in a Victorian house in Hearnville Road, within an area known as the "Nightingale Triangle" and less than 10 minutes' walk from Balham Tube. The asking price is £425,000.

Buyers with less to spend could look a quarter-of-a-mile eastward, towards Tulse Hill and Streatham Hill, where period flats are significantly cheaper. In Mount Ephraim Road in SW16, Brooks Estate Agents has a one-bedroom, split-level flat priced at £300,000. Call 020 8012 4704 for full details.