Tech hubs to call home: where to buy new homes in central London in 2018 — follow the digital giants

Expect property to be built into districts at the heart of London’s booming digital economy — including King's Cross, Battersea and Fitzrovia — over the next five years.
David Spittles25 March 2020

London Mayor Sadiq Khan wants to extend digital hubs with homes further into the heart of the capital.

Attracting global tech companies to high-profile regeneration areas in order to create new jobs and prosperity is already succeeding.

Google is expanding its European headquarters at King’s Cross by 3,000 staff.

Apple is due to move to a spectacular “campus” at Battersea Power Station in 2021, while Facebook has taken up residence at Rathbone Square, a sparkling new address in Fitzrovia, pledging to hire 800 more staff than expected, bringing the headcount to 1,300.

These corporate moves are reshaping London’s property market, according to Martin Bikhit, managing director of estate agent Kay & Co.

An influx of new employees on such a scale plus the hand-in-glove neighbourhood improvements create big property ripples.

Kay & Co predicts that property values will rise quite substantially during the next five years in Fitzrovia, where there is a homes shortage and a Crossrail boost.

Facebook HQ: the arrival of a large business to an area can boost the neighbourhood, encouraging innovation, employment and training 
PA

Rathbone Square, a former Royal Mail depot, includes 142 private flats and shared-ownership homes. Call Savills on 020 7409 8756.

Large businesses help to boost an area by encouraging innovation and offering employment and training.

Facebook is creating an incubator at its Frank Gehry-designed offices, where start-up companies and budding entrepreneurs can apply for three-month programmes.

At King’s Cross, 53 per cent of properties that sold last year were on the market for three months or less, compared with 25 per cent for the rest of central London.

Currently, King’s Cross is one of the lower-priced Zone 1 districts. Typically, a new two-bedroom flat costs just under £1 million.

Three-bedroom apartments at The Plimsoll Building, a cluster of towers overlooking a stunning green park that sits within a preserved Victorian gasholder, cost from £1.8 million. Call Knight Frank on 020 3691 3969.

From £1.8million: flats in the Plimsoll Building near Google's King's Cross offices