Financial Times Europe - 09.11.2019 - 10.11.2019

9 November/10 November 2019 ★ FTWeekend 3

Hackney

Average price achieved (’)

Sources: Hamptons International; Land Registry

200

 

Prime central London

Hackney

LONDON

Victoria Park

estate

Victoria Park

mapsnews.com/©HERE

 metres

Victoria Park Road

Lauriston Road

It takes a village

J

oannie Andrews lives in a

house overlooking Victoria

Park in Hackney, east London.

She has lived in the area her

wholelife.

According to Andrews, the area was

named Victoria Park Village by estate

agents.Born-and-bredlocalssimplycall

itLauristonRoad.

Andrewsisstillpartofthesameclose-

knit community. Residents have good

reason to stay in the area; Victoria Park

has a boating lake, popular pubs nda

more than 86haof greenery.The green

space was oted one of the best parks inv

the country in the 2018 Green Flag Peo-

ple’s Choice Awards.A 10-day annual

music festival, All Points East, s a fix-i

tureontheLondoncalendar.

But buyers have not been flocking to

Hackney toacquire homes. While data

fromanalysts Built Place show hatt

prices in Hackney arerising — 3.9 per

centinthepastyear—transactionshave

dropped by third since 2014. Is thea

property market in Hackney stabilising

afteraperiodofdecline?

Any changes Andrews has noticed

are subtle. There is still a fishmonger

and a butcher, but they are a lot more

expensive than they used to be. The

pubs are no longer the same: “When I

was a child you would go into the pub

InternationalandLandRegistrydata.

The decrease in transactions since

2014 is largely down to the 3 per cent

increase to stamp duty for second

homes, according to Built Place analyst

Neal Hudson. When the changewas

announced by former chancellor

George Osborne, investors turned their

back on Hackney. “The yield doesn’t

makeitworthwhile,”hesays.

While first-time buyers have replaced

investorsin other parts of the country,

they have not been able to in Hackney

because of the bigrise in prices, says

Hudson.“Mostpeopledon’tneedtosell,

so rather than big price falls there are

justfewertransactions,”hesays.

Katherine Forster ecently tradedr

the house in Hackney she shares with

her husband for a bigger one nearby.

She believes that there are plenty

of young couples looking to move to

Hackneybecause it offers entertain-

ment and good schools. However, she

also points out that as people stay in

their homes for longer, buyers have

feweroptions.

“There’s not very much on the mar-

ket. Previously people lived here and

then moved out when they had kids but

nowpeoplearechoosingtostaybecause

the state schools and nurseries are so

two-bedroom split-level apartment is

for sale in a onverted school for offersc

inexcessof£550,000.

Transactions at Savills have recently

picked up, says Earnshaw — by 35 per

cent since this time last year. As long as

houses continue to come on the market,

young couplesare willing o pay signifi-t

cantly more than their predecessors to

liveinthearea.

i/B U Y I N G G U I D E

The city is just over half an hour away via

Bethnal Green underground station

Just 15 minutes’ walk away is Broadway

Market, which dates from the 18th century

and is held every Saturday

Hackney has 57 other parks, totalling

282ha of green space. This includes

London Fields, Hackney Downs and

Haggerston Park

What you can buy for...

£500,000 two-bedroom flat with aA

private balcony on Victoria Park Road

£1.17m modern three-bedroomA

terraced house overlooking Victoria Park

£2.8m A five-bedroom terraced house—

with views over Well Street Common

More atpropertylistings.ft.com

UK propertyLondon’s

Victoria Park Village

attracts young couples

who stay put, slowing

transactions in the market.

ByAlex Howlett

Victoria Park in London’s Hackney Alamy—

(Left) Two-bedroom flat in a converted school, from £550,000; (above) two-bedroom flat on on Victoria Park Road

Balazs Kovacs

House Home

toplaydarts,notbuyaburger,”shesays.

Buyersare happy to pay premium

prices for houses in the wider Hackney

area as well as for their fish and meat,

with sales pricesnearly doubling over

thepastdecade,accordingtoHamptons

good,” she says. “It’s becoming a longer-

term place to live and people are willing

to pay a premium when Victorian

housescomeonthemarket.”

The first house that she andher hus-

band ought was on Eleanor Roadb , a

Victorian buildingthat needed renovat-

ing. Seven years later, after having “a lot

of work done”, they sold it for almost

doubletheprice.

Andrews has also noticed the change

in residents over the years. “There are

younger people moving in because

they’re the ones working and have the

money,” she says. Joe Earnshaw, head of

Savills office in Victoria Park Village,

saysup to two-thirds ofhis buyers rea

couplesagedbetween30and40looking

tosetdown“long-termroots”.

While there is a lack of new stock

coming to the market, the properties

thatdoshow pareworththewait.Rob-u

ert Alan Homes is selling a two-

bedroom flat on Victoria Park Road for

£600,000 which has a mural of Chinese

lanternson an external wall.Another

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