It wasn’t too long ago that many London home buyers turned their noses up at the likes of Peckham and Brockley in the southeast of the city, favoring posh central postcodes instead.
But soaring house prices and banks’ lending crackdowns since the financial crisis have changed all that, making these traditionally more affordable neighborhoods the hot new commodity.
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All this demand has pushed prices higher, and a new Knight Frank report released today on how London has fared since the 2008 financial crisis found that average home prices in the southeast of the city have grown faster than anywhere else in the capital since, with values now at record highs.
Herne Hill near Brixton beat the likes of upmarket Chelsea and Kensington to claim the strongest performance in London, with prices rising 59.8% between their peak in the first quarter of 2008 to the second quarter of 2016 to stand an average of £728,154 (US$887,474).
In Peckham, meanwhile, prices jumped 53.2% to £450,497 ($548,751) over the same period, while in Brockley they were 54.7% higher at £507,197 ($617,817).
"It may surprise some to know that house prices in parts of southeast London have grown by more than prime central London since 2008," Tom Bill, Knight Frank's head of London residential research, said.
"While the safe-haven appeal of prime central London meant prices grew strongly after the financial crisis, the regulatory landscape has since got tougher, and growth of 32.7% is exceeded by areas that include Herne Hill and Brockley," Mr. Bill said.
In East London, in areas such as Homerton and Stoke Newington, it was a similar story. Eight of the 10 London districts that have seen the strongest price growth of more than 50% since their previous peaks fall within easterly or south-easterly postcodes.
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"It is a similar story in other more affordable areas of east and north London, where strong demand has rippled outwards and, in many cases, driven a wider regeneration story," added Mr. Bill.