Buying a first place - North or East London

pred02

Hi,

I am looking to buy my first 1 or 2 bedroom room in the £250-300k range. I currently live near Essex Road and like my area - however it is becoming increasingly expensive.

I am looking to potentially move a little bit East where I am - potentially Haggerston, Hoxton, or London Fields. I am a bit concerned as I've heard that parts of Hackney is dangerous.
Kingsland Road (near Haggerston / Regents) Canal seems to be a decent choice as it seems in the middle of everything with great connections to the City.

I quite like Regents Canal east of Angel and there seem to be tons of new constructions up and coming in the vicinity. Any idea how to get a view into those listings?

Another area bit North of me that seems to be up and coming is Finsbury Park with excellent connections.

Any thoughts on the aforementioned areas or other parts of London I should be looking into please let me know.

Thanks,
G

jozbo

knowing the areas you describe well,
i'd recommend homerton and clapton as first purchases. homerton is steadily coming up and up and with your budget you should be able to get a decent sized 2 bed flat.

if you went further north east and considered leytonstone and walthamstow you could potentially get a 3 bed house with the upper side of your budget.

hackney has a rep for being dangerous (largely a myth), i've lived here all my life and had very little trouble. though it's like anywhere - in london you have to be aware of the hotspots for crime.

though don't assume finding a middle class pocket means you won't have problems - in an area like homerton you get a lot of resentment from the locals when it suddenly gets gentrified and people feel they're being pushed out.

hoxton, london fields or haggerston are very expensive and i don't think a good bet for a first time buy - you'd only get a 1 bed, perhaps 2, but i think the boat has sailed now.

clapton is a good long term proposal as it's still coming up.

pred02

though don't assume finding a middle class pocket means you won't have problems - in an area like homerton you get a lot of resentment from the locals when it suddenly gets gentrified and people feel they're being pushed out.

This is the sense I get and its not pleasant. I find a somewhat similar feeling in Essex Road living in a new build surrounded by council estates. Hear a lot of horror stories about Hackney - but they are mostly from the media and forums.



Perhaps I should be looking into other areas as well. What about Finsbury Park? Dalston? Stoke Newington?

Any other areas worth exploring in the South East?

Many thanks,

Hillbilly1

I think alot of Essex Road and Finsbury Pk are as bad as Hackney!

AlexMac

Q 'Any other areas worth exploring in the South East?'...

If you've lived around Essex Road you may already be victim to the syndrome that, once you begin to lay down roots in a confusing metropolis like London, you can't face discovering new areas... and certainly can't cope with 'SOUTH OF THE RIVER'!

Which is a pity, cause you get a lot more for your money in South-East London where I've lived happily, in several locations, for over 20 years...

I started by cycling round dozens of properties in the (then) pre-internet days; but you can now use sites like zoopla, findaproperty and rightmove to search by area; by price, postcode or maps, often with an overview of local areas and market conditions;

Look at areas such as SE4 (Brockley...) SE10 (Greenwich) SE3 (Blackheath), and nearby SE7 (Charlton- the latter probably a bit too far out but still in Zone 3 for cheap fast commuting to London Bridge or Charing Cross) None of them quite as uber-edgy as shoreditch etc. but you can't afford uber-cool! These have an incredible cost/class/socio-economic mix, with a range of prices from old money mansions up to £5mil parts of Blackheath (but still a really good range of cheap quality bars and restaurants here and in neighbouring Greenwich) to overdeveloped new-builds in Deptford which you could get at knock-down prices.

Good luck!

pred02

If you've lived around Essex Road you may already be victim to the syndrome that, once you begin to lay down roots in a confusing metropolis like London, you can't face discovering new areas... and certainly can't cope with 'SOUTH OF THE RIVER'!

You are absolutely right - I've lived in West, Northwest, and North / East parts of London but never south of the river. I will certantly try to explore those areas as well in the upcoming weeks / months (no rush).

One area that keeps coming up on everyone's radar over and over is New Cross Gate that seems to be hot / developing. Also Dulwich is also mentioned a lot - but on late nights in East London would probably be hard to get home without the trains running.