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It’s time to forget everything you ever learned about London real estate from the Monopoly board, because Mayfair and Park Lane are being pushed off their dark blue-banded pedestals by some decidedly hipper neighbourhoods. According to new data from house price monitor Hometrack, great hordes of cool kids scrambling to grab a pad in the likes of Peckham, Clapton and Walthamstow have led to property price growth in those areas outpacing that of the luxury neighbourhoods of Mayfair and Hampstead.
In the past eight years, Walthamstow and Clapton have experienced the largest rises in property prices, with average prices up 133 percent since 2009. This is followed by Peckham with a price growth of almost 130 percent and Leyton which has seen property prices go up by more than 128 percent. Meanwhile, Mayfair and Hampstead have lagged behind with a more modest growth of 88 percent and just under 87 percent respectively.
Property experts have put the trend down to two years of price stagnation in London’s luxury neighbourhoods and a fall in overseas buyers. This, they say, is combined with better transport links serving the south and east of London, along with organic cultural development – such as bars and clubs – in these areas. It also comes after Peckham was named the best place to live in London by The Sunday Times, thanks to its ‘artsy, gritty and lovely’ atmosphere. Park Lane, eat your heart out.
Now, if only our pay cheques could increase by 133 percent, too.
In other news, London rent prices have fallen for the first time in eight years and Ed Miliband’s Ed Stone has been spotted at a west London restaurant.