From Clapton to White Hart Lane: four London Overground areas for home buyers to watch

Average prices of homes near a London Overground station are nearly £20,000 higher than those across London as a whole, it is revealed today.

As the train line turns 10 years old, property prices near the 112 stations average £618,000 compared to £599,000 in Greater London.

The network covers some of London’s most expensive locations, from Hampstead Heath, where the average price is more than £1.5m, to Kensington Olympia, where the average price stands at almost £1.2m.

But for those without Hampstead budgets we've picked four interesting areas you should know about, with strong price growth and promising upgrades in the pipeline...

London Overground turns 10: how has it affected house prices along its route?

CLAPTON, E5
Average price: £599,171
10-year price growth: 129.1 per cent

The coming of the overground has had a transformative effect on Clapton. Once lumbered with a reputation as crime-ridden and downtrodden, its streets of Victorian terraces and period conversions (plus an increasing number of new homes as developers sit up and take notice of E5) are now coveted by hipsters who hang out at the Sunday market, bars and cafes which have sprung up on Chatsworth Road, or take a stroll around Hackney Marshes – east London’s answer to Hampstead Heath.

Families particularly like the area for itscracking schools, including Clapton Girls’ Academy and Mossbourne Community Academy.

And although certainly not cheap - a three-bedroom house will cost up to £900,000, while a one-bedroom flat would be priced at around £400,000 - it's still better value than most of its neighbours.

Chris Manderson, sales manager of Foxtons, believes the coming of the overground was just one factor in Clapton’s rebirth. The closure of the notorious Chimes nightclub, often linked with local murders and gun violence, has also helped. And demand has been strong from buyers priced out of Stoke Newington and London Fields.

“It used to be a no-go area,” said Manderson. “Now its reputation has completely changed.”

BRUCE GROVE, N17
Average price: £274,953
10-year price growth: 55.8 per cent

Where? An entirely forgivable reaction for this under-the-radar sliver of Tottenham, which is just north of Seven Sisters and enclosed between Lordship Recreation Ground, Lordship Lane, and the High Road.

Once owned by the family of Scottish king Robert the Bruce, today its leafy streets are dominated by Victorian and Edwardian houses. Bruce Grove has a Sunday market (Tottenham Green Market) with a great mix of international food, an eponymous park with tennis courts and museum, and plenty of useful, although not desperately, inspiring shops.

Local pubs are determinedly avoiding gastropubisation.

More seriously, the area has suffered from its proximity to the scandalously run down Broadwater Farm estate where PC Keith Blakelock was murdered in 1985. The Farm has since been redeveloped, but the area remains slightly down at heel.

“It is not gentrified yet, it is as simple as that,” said Ellie Rees, director of Brickworks London. “They do not have little boutique coffee shops, and it is quite a transient, rental sort of area. But it will change. We have already seen a huge increase in prices.”

Families in particular like Bruce Grove for its good schools and large but still affordable houses.

Bruce Grove Primary School and Mulberry Primary School are rated good by Ofsted and Harris Academy Tottenham has an “outstanding” report.

“The houses are a lot bigger than you find in Tottenham or Harringay,” said Rees. “They tend to be your workers’ cottages, while Bruce Grove was further out and where the wealthier people lived.”

A five-bedroom house on one of Bruce Grove’s best streets – Pembury or Ruskin Road are particularly nice – costs £850,000 to £900,000, while an average three-bedroom terrace is £500,000 to £550,000.

HOMERTON, E9
Average price: £541,083
10-year price growth: 137.1 per cent

The compromise of Homerton is that while it is fantastically handy for City and Canary Wharf commuters, and a single overground stop from the bars and restaurants of Hoxton, this is a location without a real heart. The High Street has one or two pubs, and the odd café and convenience store but, oddly for a bona fide gentrified address, so far nobody has thought to open a great coffee shop or even a decent bistro.

If that is not a deal breaker then Homerton has some very pretty streets of small period houses, like Hassett Road, interspersed with some ugly post-war social housing.

It is within walking distance of Victoria Park and schools include Cardinal Pole Catholic School (good, according to Ofsted, with an outstanding sixth form), and Berger Primary School (which holds a “good” Ofsted report).

Attempts are being made to breathe some life into Homerton, although not without conflict. The historic Well Street Market was reopened last year (after a suitably hipster crowdfunding appeal backed by Sadiq Khan), with a new emphasis on fresh food, street food, art and crafts, plus free stalls for student makers and teenagers.

However, almost a year on local shopkeepers still complain of low footfall and – as is so often the case when the young and affluent move in alongside an established community – that the new market fails to cater to those born and brought up in Homerton.

WHITE HART LANE, N17
Average price: £223,887
10-year price growth: 30 per cent

The spiritual home of Tottenham Hotspur, the lane is a nondescript parade of shops where fans’ pubs like The Bricklayers only really come alive on match days.

Off the main drag, such as it is, are streets of Thirties and Fifties semis popular with parents keen to get their children into the academically selective free school, London Academy of Excellence Tottenham, or primaries such as St Francis de Sales RC Junior School, rated good with outstanding features by Ofsted.

Traditionally, families like older houses, but Rees says that they are coming around to the delights of mid-century property. “They are very light, they are often very well built, and they are more affordable,” said Rees.

She admits the area is currently “down at heel” but White Hart Lane’s fortunes could change significantly over the next few years thanks to new and significant investment from outside. Haringey council recently signed a £1billion deal with developer Lend Lease to redevelop the area near Spurs’ new stadium, with more than 2,500 homes (750 of which will be affordable), a civic square lined with shops, restaurants, cafes, and community facilities.

The council is also in negotiations over the redevelopment of the Peacock Industrial Estate, with almost 300 new homes plus 3,000 sq ft of commercial space. Along White Hart Lane itself, a former goods yard is earmarked for another 330 homes and Spurs itself is planning to build 145 homes on a currently vacant site.