Starchitect kudos: Norman Foster-designed Islington flats with shares from £127,500

Over the past five years a swathe of land from Old Street to Aldgate on the edge of the City has been transformed with thousands of new homes — a change driven in part by the enthusiasm for walking or cycling to work.

Predictably, most of these new homes are rather swishy, in steel-and- glass towers designed for affluent young professionals who want their daily commute to be part of their exercise programme.

The prices put the majority of these homes beyond the modest budgets of most first-time buyers but housing association Peabody is about to launch a new development of starter homes (studios and one-bedroom flats) priced from £127,500.

The flats, by housebuilder Berkeley Homes, are at 250 City Road, a 42-storey tower designed by Norman Foster no less, where private flats cost up to £3.4 million.

And their key selling point is their great Zone 1 location, half a mile from the bars and restaurants of Upper Street, 10 minutes’ walk from Old Street, and a mile-and-a-half from Bank Tube station.

If this isn’t close enough, the development will also have a selection of cafés, restaurants and shops, plus workspace for start-up companies.

There are also a couple of acres of green space in an area not otherwise overwhelmed with parks.

A 30 per cent share of a studio flat with a full market value currently estimated at £425,000 will cost first-time buyers around £127,500, while a 30 per cent share of a one-bedroom flat with a full price of around £567,500 comes in at £170,000 plus rent and service charge.

While City Road itself, aka the A501, is traffic-clogged and noisy, the streets around it are well worth exploring and full of art emporia such as the Victoria Miro gallery. The Barbican is less than a mile away, too.

Save up and you could try the two-Michelin-starred restaurants within a mile (St John and Galvin La Chapelle).

Slightly more realistically, Enoteca da Luca has a terrace and pizza van (as well as a giant wine list), or you can hang out at Nightjar for live jazz and a drink.

And the morning after, work it all off at the Finsbury Leisure Centre or the splendidly restored Ironmonger Row Baths, which has Turkish baths as well as a pool and gym.