The areas where house prices doubled during Britain's property market boom - The Telegraph

As the share of estate agents who think that property prices will fall over the coming year is now larger than at any point since October 2010, and with Britain’s biggest housebuilder warning of a marked slowdown in the market, most observers believe that the current cycle of house price rises has come to an end.

In research conducted for The Telegraph by estate agency Hamptons, using data supplied by the ONS, average property values in percentage terms across 27 local authorities across Britain doubled or more in the 14 years since the financial crisis of 2008.

“Like most property cycles before it, the current one began with stronger price growth in London and the South,” says Aneisha Beveridge, head of research.

“As we near the end of the cycle, northern locations are performing better but not enough to offset years of underperformance.”

Looking solely at price growth, the predictable names top the charts: Kensington & Chelsea (where the average price for a property now stands at £1.38m), the City of London and Westminster take the top three spots. But looking at percentage growth, other areas, largely those on the edge of the capital, take the lead.

Factors that have had a major impact on the fortunes of areas include large-scale regeneration and infrastructure projects.

“Local authorities like Hackney, with its 2012 Olympics-led redevelopment, and Haringey, in north London, used to be some of the more affordable parts of London,” says Beveridge.

“But improved transport links and better infrastructure have meant that they have seen some of the strongest price growth in the country.”

A further trend that emerges has been the knock-on effect of the pandemic. The desire for flexible commuting and the need for outside space led to values in outer London boroughs, commuter towns and regional cities outperforming areas of prime central London in percentage growth terms.

Top three: Super suburbs

Harlow, Essex
Price growth 105pc
Average house price £331,300

Lying on the border with London and Hertfordshire, this was one of a number of new towns built in the late 1940s and 1950s to ease overcrowding in the capital. The most affordable properties tend to be the post-war terraced houses, although while it was possible to pick up a three-bedroom one for under £250,000 back in 2017, that’s no longer the case.

It is an easy commute with trains to Liverpool Street taking between 30 and 40 minutes from Harlow town station; they all stop at Tottenham Hale for access to the Victoria line and the West End.

Epsom & Ewell, Surrey
Price growth 103pc
Average price £574,010

Home to the Epsom Downs racecourse, which hosts the Derby every June, and the source of eponymous medicinal salts, this part of suburban Surrey is known for being significantly less expensive than its flashy neighbour, Wentworth (where average house prices stand at £2.7m, according to figures from Yopa).

Set in Zone 9, commuters can still travel to London using an Oyster card from the three stations within the borough –journeys take between 30 and 40 minutes from Epsom town. Second-stepper buyers have kept Jason Cheeseman, of Hamptons, busy recently.

“You could sell a two-bedroom flat in south-west London and buy a family home here for a slight uplift,” he says, adding there’s still room for values to grow further in this “best of both worlds” location.

Hertsmere, Herts
Price growth 100pc
Average price £543,060

With Watford to the west and Hatfield to the east, Hertsmere takes in Elstree and its famous film and TV studios, Borehamwood, Bushey and Potters Bar. Proximity to the M25, A1M and M1 means that the area has long been popular with commuters and trains to London take approximately 30 minutes. In 2021, a survey by Nationwide found that Hertsmere was the least affordable local authority in the East of England, with average property prices 9.6 times average earnings for the area.

Next best: Castle Point, Essex (99pc); Elmbridge, Surrey (98pc); Gravesham, Kent (93pc)

Top three: trendy location neighbourhoods

Hackney, east London
Price growth 118pc
Average price £655,100

This east London neighbourhood has shuffled off its industrial past and undergone a transformation over the past 20 years. Taking in nightlife hotspots including Dalston, and village neighbourhoods like Stoke Newington, it’s firmly established as one of London’s most desirable boroughs with a strong community and creative spirit.

Warehouses have been converted into co-working spaces and art galleries, while once grungy Mare Street and Kingsland Road bristle with bars and restaurants. A focus by the borough on improving green spaces since 2008 attracted families who were priced out of Highbury and Islington, adds Louisa Ataliotis, of Winkworth, an estate agency.

Lewisham, south-east London
Price growth 110pc
Average price £469,430

A mile or so south of Greenwich, Lewisham was once famous for having the largest purpose-built police station in Europe. Having been regarded as one of the main shopping hubs of south-east London in the early 20th century, the area was bombed during the Second World War and took a while to recover.

Today, it’s a vibrant Zone 2 neighbourhood with a string of high-rise developments and growing leisure facilities. If the planned Bakerloo line extension goes ahead, the result will no doubt push prices up further.

Greenwich, south-east London
Price growth 103pc
Average price £444,100

For a while in September 2022, it looked like the political axis of power had shifted to the leafy streets of south-east London that both Liz Truss and Kwasi Kwarteng call home. The borough takes in east Greenwich and Charlton, with their industrial past; Deptford, which has emerged as one of the fastest-growing regeneration and foodie hotspots in the capital; to the established and well-kept streets of Greenwich itself, crowned by its vast park.

“After the crash in 2007-08, buyers sought better value for money and the borough of Greenwich offered this,” says estate Steve Brown, of Winkworth in Greenwich. Since then, there has been major investment in what he describes as the “less desirable parts” including Woolwich and Kidbrooke and improvements to transport links, including the recently opened Elizabeth line.

Next best: Southwark (101pc), Newham (100pc), Islington (99pc)

Top three: outer London

Waltham Forest, north-east London
Price growth 140pc
Average price in 2022 £524,900

Waltham Forest comes top of the list for house price growth by percentage since 2008. It’s bounded on the north by Essex, on the east by Redbridge and on the west by the River Lea. Much of the growth in prices has been supported by the popularity of Walthamstow. Positioned on the edge of Epping Forest, but with fast links into central London (via the Victoria Line or London Overground), the community has transformed into a buzzy and creative hub.

Haringey, north London
Price growth £117pc
Average price £622,810

Home to Crouch End, a leafy neighbourhood north of Finsbury Park that’s a favourite among families and young professionals with lots of independent shops and cafes, prices in Haringey have risen as emigres priced out of Hackney have travelled further north.

Andrew Phillips, of Hamptons in Crouch End, advises to look east of the Haringey Ladder (a grid of parallel roads running off Green Lanes) for value. “Here you can buy a three-bedroom Victorian house for just over £500,000.”

Merton, south-west London
Price growth 106pc
Average price £587,190

Good schools are one of the major draws, which explains why families have flocked to the borough for years (63pc of the borough’s secondary schools are rated outstanding by Ofsted, significantly higher than the London average of 36pc, according to figures from CBRE).

While Wimbledon village has long been the most desirable and expensive area, other neighbourhoods including Southfields have grown in popularity with young families. Pockets better suited to first-time buyers include Tooting and New Malden, says Joe Antoniazzi, of Barratt West London.

Next best: Brent (103pc), Richmond (102pc), Bexley (101pc)

Top three: regional cities

Cambridge
Price growth 127pc
Average price £533,030

Some of the aspects of Cambridge that have made it a popular place to live have not changed: it remains less than an hour from London, has some of the best schools in the country and is home to one of the most respected universities in the world.

In the past decade, says Michael Houlden, of Knight Frank, tech giants including Apple, Amazon’s Alexa and Huawei have established bases in the city and the pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca relocated its global headquarters to Cambridge in 2016. The results of this expansion and its position as a centre of research has sent house prices soaring

Bristol
Price growth 111pc
Average price £363,100

As people started relocating from the South East to the South West in search of more space, demand for houses and apartments outstripped supply. Research from Knight Frank last year showed a 33pc increase in the number of prospective buyers looking to buy compared with the five-year average pre-pandemic.

Dan Harris, of Knight Frank, points to Bristol’s “thriving economy, strong cultural identity and social scene, and large green spaces”, which make it appealing to people of all ages.

Trafford, Greater Manchester
Price growth 105pc
Average price £373,590

Like outer boroughs of London, Trafford, in Greater Manchester, has recorded strong demand from buyers searching for more space. The area, which borders central Manchester to the north and Cheshire to the south, takes in the towns of Hale, Altrincham (with its indoor market – a foodie destination) and Bowdon.

Next best: Oxford (91pc), Leicester (88pc), Canterbury (87pc)

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