House prices have risen in East London since the Olympics were announced - but some neighbourhoods are benefiting more than others, while many areas have failed to keep pace with the rest of the capital.
A new report, produced by Lloyds TSB, found that average property prices in East London have risen by 26% since the announcement in 2005 that the area will host the 2012 Olympics.
However, this compares relatively poorly with an average increase of 36% across Greater London.
Only four areas in East London saw property price increases above this benchmark over the five year period – all of which were in Hackney.
In Homerton, prices have increased by an impressive 69%, while fashionable Shoreditch recorded a rise of 53%.
Dalston and Clapton each saw average prices grow by 39%.
Lloyds TSB housing economist Suren Thiru attributed the increases to the effect of the Games, commenting: “Some areas close to the main Olympic site have experienced a sharp rise in property prices since London’s successful bid to host the 2012 Olympic Games.”
“Part of this rise is likely to have been due to an increased interest in property in these locations from both buyers and investors as a result of the associated regeneration taking place.”
However, the Hackney neighbourhoods showing greatest property price increases are not those closest to the Olympic site.
Furthermore, other factors may explain their good economic performance, including recent gentrification and improved transport links including the East London Line upgrade – the latter having reportedly already boosted house prices in areas such as Crystal Palace and Brockley.
Meanwhile, Stratford, where the main Olympic facilities are being built, has performed particularly poorly, experiencing an average house price increase of a meagre 3% – confounding predictions that the area would see above-average increases.
This news is likely to compound the complaints of critics who have argued that the Olympics have provided little of the regeneration originally promised.
But Thiru, remaining optimistic, concluded: “Looking forward, property prices across East London are likely to receive a boost from the legacy of improved infrastructure and transport links left by the London games.”
You can read our article about the impact of the Olympics on local jobs here.
Boris Johnson, Simon Hughes and Karen Buck - allies against housing benefit cuts. Photo of Hughes by Keith Edkins
More than 425,000 Londoners could lose their homes if Government plans to cap Housing Benefit are pushed through un-amended, the National Housing Federation has warned.
The Federation described the reforms as ‘catastrophic,’ calculating that some 200,000 are at risk of being made homeless – the highest level since records began in 1980. Londoners will be particularly badly affected because the price of housing is far higher here than in the rest of the country.
Mayor of London Boris Johnson, Liberal Democrat deputy leader Simon Hughes, MP for Bermondsey and Old Southwark and Karen Buck, Labour MP for Westminster North, have all expressed their disquiet at the new measures.
The Housing Benefit cuts were announced in the last budget by George Osborne, who said:“We will for the first time introduce maximum limits on housing benefit – from £280 a week for a one-bedroom property to £400 a week for a four-bedroom or larger.”
The ‘red book’ in which the budget is described in greater detail puts the lower figure at £250 per week which would mean that, even in the poorer parts of the East London Line boroughs, there are few self-contained flats (suitable for parents with one child) available to claimants – and the shortage of bigger properties is even greater (see our feature).
In Hackney, four bedroom houses for rent are fairly abundant at £500 a week (there are very few available at lower rents) and under the current rules, that amount can be paid by Housing Benefit if the resident is sufficiently low-paid or unemployed. Under the new rules the resident would have to find an extra £100 a week in rent or move.
In Westminster, it is calculated that more than 5,000 families will have to find extra money because their rents exceed the new maximum weekly claim of £400. For those unemployed for more than a year there will be a further cut of 10 percent irrespective of the level of rent. Some families who have lived in an area for years, and who send there children to school there, will find themselves forced out of their homes if they cannot find the extra money.
“The housing benefit caps could see poorer people effectively forced out of wealthier areas, and ghettoised into poorer neighbourhoods,” Housing Federation chief executive David Orr said today.
“Some people affected by Housing Benefit caps may successfully find a home in cheaper areas, but many will end up in expensive bed and breakfast accommodation, while thousands will simply become homeless,” he continued.
The plans will impact particularly badly on the very low-paid who may end up losing their jobs because they can neither afford to pay the extra rent, nor pay the far higher travel costs associated with living on the outskirts of London. We may very well find that the low-paid workers who we rely upon to clean our city and care for our elderly will be priced out of the capital.
As the Government threatens to cap housing benefit at £250 per week for a one bed flat Boris Johnson is calling for Londoners to be ‘spared’ from such ‘draconian’ plans. But then Boris, from Canonbury and Eton, probably can’t imagine living in anything costing £250 per week.
Here in the East London Line boroughs, we are ready to open our comforting arms to embrace the frantic, stressed and newly nomadic citizens. We face little competition for cheap rented accommodation in the capital .
Checking on the Find-a-Property website we found an abundance of one bed flats with the highest number in Hackney (31 places). Croydon had the smallest number of flats available in the price range on the site, with nineteen each for Lewisham and Tower Hamlets.
Admittedly some of the flats would be ideal only for those who use multi-tasking as a way of life.: homes where you can cook, use the toilet and feed the cat all at the same time. Yes the places are small. What do you expect to £250 in London?
Hackney typically over the years has been a borough of high unemployment and back in 2006 was rated the worst borough to live in through a Channel 4 survey. At the same time unemployment figures were the highest in London at 16.4%. Many of the flats on offer are (irony of ironies) those very same ex-council flats that were sold off to their tenants the last time the Conservatives were in power in the 1980s. However, the new East London Line, has encouraged a frenzy of flat building, bringing with it some great housing opportunities at a low cost. The timing is perfect.
Beware though, the prices rise, and the space, declines the closer you get to Shoreditch (which has lately gone up in the world due to the presence of its burgeoning celebrity scene).
As a pretend job seeker with an allowance of £280 a week, I went into various estate agents around Shoreditch to see what was really available for my budget. The results were not encouraging. In one case I was offered a luxurious (ahem) 1 bed flat on Bethnal Green Road. I was told, if I wanted to, I could use the large(ish) living space as a second bedroom. I was smitten, especially when I saw what it looked like from outside.
Saying this, not all were as sad and I did come across a new build block of “highly modern 1 bedroom apartments located in Dalston, decorated to the very highest of standards in one of East London’s most desired developments, just a stone’s throw from the new Dalston (East London Line)”. On the map it appears to be actually inside the Kingsland shopping centre which could be handy for those who have come down in the world as you can sell gold for cash right there, a stone’s throw from your bed.
Things will be tougher for big families who are allocated £400 per week as a maximum for a four bedroom home. There are only a handful at that price available in our boroughs but, if you are happy to move to the further reaches of Croydon, we found a nice four bed detached house near Coombe lane Tram Link. Of course you may not be able to afford to get to work from there but then you are unemployed so it doesn’t matter does it? Oh you were hoping to find another job were you? Well I am sure there will be plenty of opportunities for you in the New Addington area.
One problem the newly redundant may find, if they venture into the East London Line boroughs, is that, despite having cheap flats available, not all private landlords will accept approaches from tenants on housing benefits. So the answer may well be, if you are a public sector worker, expecting to be given the sack any time soon, find your low-priced nest in advance of the axe. Landlords are more likely to take benefits payments from tenants they already know.
This rush to the East could well result in shortages and price rises and the mother Teresa of boroughs may be forced to turn people away, leaving them high and dry on the property front. So move now while stocks last.
Of course reality of the new housing benefit cap will be increasing social divisions across London as those who fall on hard times (usually for no fault of their own) are forced to move to the ‘joblossvilles’ around the periphery of the City. (see our lead article)
“On Yer Bike” was the slogan coined for the Thatcher era when the legendary Norman Tebbitt advised unemployed people to move to other areas in search of work. The slogan for the Osborne era could well become: “pick up your bed and walk”.
Hackney has a housing shortage, some say it is a crisis.
The borough has around 15,500 people on the council housing waiting list and 2,000 people registered as homeless. There are more than 17,000 people living in “unsuitable” housing. Unsuitable housing includes overcrowded homes; in Hackney almost 10 per cent of households are overcrowded, compared to 2.5 per cent nationally.
Hackney Borough Council has a housing waiting list of more than 15,000. It also has more than 17,000 people in housing deemed to be unsuitable and around 2,000 people classed as homeless. (more…)
Eviction from empty Hackney homes. Photo: Phil Evans
It started with banging and smashing sounds somewhere above their flats. After several minutes water began to pour through the ceiling. Then the electricity went off. (more…)
“I got back from having my baby in hospital to find we were being evicted three days later.”
“It was my partner’s dream to come here, he was really excited about coming here because he’d never been abroad before and he became obsessed about it, about moving to a new, better life abroad I came to England in 2006, when I was 28 with my eldest daughter, who is 11 years old now, and my partner. I was looking for better prospects and I wanted to settle down here.
