Guide to London Property

Introduction - On this page you will find links to details of property for sale, rental accommodation, shared housing in London.  London is one of the great capitals of the world. Home to over twelve million people, London is the capital city of England, part of the United Kingdom. It is located in the south east of England around the banks of the river Thames. Rich in history and heraldry and Monarchy, London is also a leading financial centre with a large amount of employment in the white collar as well as tertiary service based industries.

London’s Buildings and Architecture - the buildings and architecture of London have seen huge change over hundreds of years. World famous landmarks like Buckingham Palace, Westminster Abbey and the London Eye dominate and contrast the Thames skyline. Back in Roman times, London’s original settlement buildings were wooden buildings, located on the banks of the Thames as ships from around the world docked goods for merchants to trade goods from other countries. As the population increased so shops and trades grew up nearby to support the local population.  The Great Fire of London in 1666 resulted in massive destruction of a large portion of the timber framed buildings. The rebuilding of London transformed London’s architecture and landscape through a massive building programme. This included the modernisation of the sewer system to help eradicate disease. The residential buildings were typically terraced, slate roof with sash windows, with coal fireplaces ad outside toilets. During the Blitz of world war two many buildings were destroyed and so the post war building program aimed to replace lost housing stock with more suburban family homes and in particular the creation of council housing for lower income London families. Villages like Balham, Tooting, and Streatham (that in the last century lay outside of London’s recognised boundaries) were swallowed up by its organic population growth. The expansion of the London underground out from central London created demand by commuting workers for homes or sale in suburban areas. During the 1960’s, the increasing demand for land meant the creation of tower blocks as a means to house mass populations in inner city areas. Government recognised the urban sprawl of London was affecting the surrounding countryside use and created the Green Belt (an area of protected land surround London where property development was and still is not allowed).  As a result of consistent change over centuries, Property in London today is has a mixture of architecture and property types from the grand Edwardian townhouse of Kensington, to two up two down Victorian brick built terraces of South London. Modern glass panelled architecture like the ‘Gerkin’ created by Norman Foster or Canary Wharf tower, (the City of London financial district), sit in the same skyline as historical grade 1 listed traditional buildings by Sir Christopher Wrens, such as St Pauls Cathedral.

London Property Prices - the immense rise in property prices during the 1990’s has stemmed from basic lack of supply (as home builders struggled to find available land to meet in increasing demand for rental property from an increased population). Government policy restricting Greenfield sites from being developed has forced builders to seek Brownfield sites. This has slowed the rate of house building across London and around its periphery. At the same time, demand for housing stock has increased significantly, (particularly for short term rental accommodation). This has been caused by a number of changes in London’s demographics; firstly more economic migrants have come to work and live in the Capital, secondly professionals working in short term contracts have become more mobile and seek more short term lets. Thirdly, the number of divorces is increasing as well as more single people choose to leave home and live alone – all fuelling demand for homes for sale and rental property.

Boom and Bust - The 1990’s also saw the birth of the buy to let boom as speculators abandoned inconsistent pension returns from the London Stock market, and instead ploughed money into residential buy to let property. The rental returns from tenants far outweighed interest rates from savings as during the early 1990’s helped to fuel the house price boom. In addition, the global and UK economy remained strong with relatively low interest rates increasing rental returns. Today in 2007, the global ‘credit crunch’ has damaged investor’s confidence in the London housing market. UK Mortgage lenders are also less willing to lend large ‘income multiples’ for first time buyers living in London where the cost of housing is beyond the reach of the average thirty year old (try to get on the property ladder). In addition, the collapse of the Northern Rock in 2007 and other sub prime US based lenders’ has shaken prospective home buyers and investors confidence. As a result, London’s property prices in spring 2008 remain weak and endless media speculation about a repeat of the housing price crash of the 1980’s dominates property headlines.

London Olympics 2012 – London has wont the bid to host the 2012 Olympic Games. As a result a major of the deprived East end of London will be demolished to make way for the Stadiums and supporting buildings to host the games. The building work will be immense with regeneration of post WW2 housing stock a major factor in the winning proposal bid. The modernisation and increased units available of homes available for key workers has been tentatively promised by The Government once the Games have finished.

History and Culture - London has always welcomed foreign workers and significant economic development and demand for skilled workers and retail service employment rises. Consequently, London now has one of the largest diversity of ethnic and foreign populations as a steady influx or economic migrant’s settles in the UK. The opening up of cross border trade and the free movement of good and people between EU countries has facilitated the population rise further. Workers from Eastern blocks countries like Poland and the Czech Republic have particularly benefited from London’s insatiable demand for economic and physical growth.

Travel and Transport Links – London’s famous double decker red bus’s and black taxis and popular with the millions of tourists who visit London every year. The city has an integrated over ground railway network that connects in part to the underground tube system. The cost of public transport is split by zones sprawling outwards into the suburbs which vary by transport mode and rush hour or off peak usage. Most public transport is outsourced to private companies sometimes making planning and ticketing interconnecting journeys difficult. The road network is heavily congested and realises on congestion charging to reduce traffic flows in and around central London in popular areas like The West End. London is surrounded by the infamous M25 motorway that has contained urban sprawl since its construction back in the 1980’s. As a result daily traffic jams clog major arteries in and out of London as people living in the ‘commuter belt’ head into London’s buildings to work or socialise…

Tourism and Entertainment – London has a huge list of tourist attractions for foreign or domestic visitors. These include theatres in the West End, museums like The Natural History Museum and art galleries like The Tate and The National Portrait gallery. Wine bars and restaurants for every conceivable type of food litter central London and the traditional east end pub will serve a London pint of beer.

Areas of London -  London uses the following postcodes:-

E1	Whitechapel, Mile End, Stepney	SE1	Waterloo
E2	Bethnal Green, Shoreditch	SE2	Abbey Wood
E3	Bow, Bromley-by-Bow	SE3	Blackheath
E4	Chingford, Highams Park	SE4	Brockley,
E5	Clapton	SE5	Camberwell
E6	East Ham	SE6	Catford
E7	Forest Gate & Upton Park	SE7	Charlton
E8	Hackney, Dalston	SE8	Deptford
E9	Homerton	SE9	Eltham
E10	Leyton	SE10	Greenwich
E11	Leytonstone	SE11	Lambeth
E12	Manor Park	SE12	Lee
E13	Plaistow	SE13	Lewisham
E14	Docklands, Isle of Dogs, Poplar, Millwall	SE14	New Cross & New Cross Gate
E15	Stratford, West Ham	SE15	Peckham
E16	Canning Town , North Woolwich	SE16	Rotherhithe & Surrey Docks
E17	Walthamstow	SE17	Walworth, Elephant & Castle
E18	South Woodford	SE18	Woolwich & Plumstead
EC1	Clerkenwell Finsbury Barbican	SE19	Upper Norwood & Crystal Palace
EC2	Moorgate Liverpool Street	SE20	Penge, Anerley
EC3	" The City"	SE21	Dulwich
EC4	Fleet Street St Pauls	SE22	East Dulwich
		SE23	Forest Hill
		SE24	Herne Hill
N1	Islington	SE25	South Norwood
N2	East Finchley	SE26	Sydenham
N3	Finchley Central	SE27	West Norwood, Tulse Hill
N4	Finsbury Park	SE28	Thamesmead
N5	Highbury
N6	Highgate	SW1	Westminster, Belgravia , Pimlico
N7	Lower Holloway	SW2	Brixton
N8	Hornsey & Crouch End	SW3	Chelsea
N9	Lower Edmonton	SW4	Clapham
N10	Muswell Hill	SW5	Earls Court
N11	Friern Barnet & New Southgate	SW6	Fulham & Parsons Green
N12	North Finchley	SW7	South Kensington
N13	Palmers Green	SW8	South Lambeth
N14	Southgate	SW9	Stockwell
N15	Seven Sisters	SW10	West Brompton, Worlds End
N16	Stoke Newington, Stamford Hill	SW11	Battersea
N17	Tottenham	SW12	Balham
N18	Upper Edmonton	SW13	Barnes
N19	Archway	SW14	Mortlake
N20	Totteridge &Whetstone	SW15	Putney
N21	Winchmore Hill	SW16	Streatham
N22	Wood Green, Alexandra Palace	SW17	Tooting
		SW18	Wandsworth
		SW19	Wimbledon
NW1	Camden Town, Regents Park	SW20	South Wimbledon, Raynes Park
NW2	Cricklewood & Neasdon	WC1	Bloomsbury
NW3	Hampstead	WC2	Covent Garden Holborn, Strand
NW4	Hendon	W1	Mayfair, Marylebone, Soho " The West End"
NW5	Kentish Town	W2	Bayswater & Paddington
NW6	Kilburn & West Hampstead.	W3	Acton
NW7	Mill Hill	W4	Chiswick
NW8	St Johns Wood	W5	Ealing
NW9	Kingsbury Colindale	W6	Hammersmith
NW10	Willesden	W7	Hanwell
NW11	Golders Green, Hampstead Garden Suburb	W8	Kensington
		W9	Maida Vale
		W10	Ladbroke Grove, North Kensington
		W11	Notting Hill Holland Park
		W12	Shepherds Bush
		W13	West Ealing
		W14	West Kensington