We are currently living in uncertain, unusual times thanks to the Covid-19 pandemic, which has put a hold on most aspects of normal life.
While the first two months of 2020 saw the best house price data for a number of years, as the Boris bounce coincided with the usual post-New Year boom in activity, inevitably the current situation surrounding the coronavirus crisis will have a dampening effect on the market as the country has been put into effective lockdown.
But sellers, buyers and agents are finding ways of adapting to the new normal, and transactions and completions are still taking place where possible. There is also evidence to suggest the market will bounce back once the crisis is over as the pent-up demand built up during the lockdown period – with a lot more people at home and with spare time on their hands – is released.
Rather than write more articles about the coronavirus – and we all know there are plenty enough of those at the moment – we thought we’d start a series about the locations we at Kings Group operate in and what they offer in terms of community, opportunity and property.
First up, Hackney. We operate in a number of locations across London, Essex and Hertfordshire, but Hackney is without doubt the trendiest area we cover.
It wasn’t always this way – not so long ago Hackney had a slightly less salubrious reputation, but it has reinvented itself in recent decades to become the go-to choice for hip Londoners and tech-savvy young professionals.
An introduction to Hackney
First things first, a brief history of an area which has been through many ups and downs throughout the centuries. In the 16th century, for example, it was a cluster of villages surrounded by meadows and a favourite among the upper classes for holidays and hunting, with Tudor mansions such as Sutton House – the only surviving example in Hackney – showcasing the area’s wealth and splendour.
Hackney, by the 18th century, was a haven for the middle classes, including East India Company directors and former mayors of London, who built themselves the kind of elegant, neo-classical townhouses that are still in evidence today – often now converted into flats or apartments.
But a rapid rise in population by the 20th century, and the spread of London’s urban sprawl, soon swallowed the area up, the wealthy upped sticks and the damage wrought in the Second World War set the area back for a number of years. While it became the focus for innovative social housing experiments, it also soon developed a reputation that led to it being one of the capital’s least-loved and least desirable boroughs.
That has all changed in the last two decades or so as significant regeneration projects, a thriving art and cultural scene and a plethora of new bars, cafes and restaurants to cater to its increasingly youthful population have transformed the area. At the same time, Hackney has kept its slight sense of edge, grit and buzz, and is a wonderful melting pot of cultures and demographics.
Despite its trendiness, it’s also more affordable than surrounding areas, which makes it appealing to buyers and a great place for sellers to sell with demand being so high.
There are plenty of things to do here – ranging from Hackney Walk (London’s first luxury outlet district) and the renovated Hackney Empire, to cinemas, new libraries, high-end, designer shops and uber-cool artisan food markets.
The borough itself covers a wider area – including the famous Hackney Marshes (the Wembley of Sunday League football) and hipster favourites such as London Fields, Hoxton, Shoreditch, Dalston, Clapton and Stoke Newington – but Hackney Central is its bustling, beating heart. Victoria Park – East London’s finest green space – is on the doorstep, as is the Olympic Park and Westfield at Stratford. The V&A Museum of Childhood in Bethnal Green and the Columbia Road Flower Market are other popular nearby landmarks.
As you would expect of one of East London’s busiest areas, transport links here are second to none, with a particularly strong concentration of Overground stations (London Fields, Hackney Central, Homerton, Clapton, Rectory Road, Shoreditch High Street, Haggerston, etc) and good bus and cycle routes.
Lardo, Diddy’s, Caldera and Pigdin are just some of the many, many restaurants on offer to Hackney locals – and we hope still will be once the restaurants and shops re-open. Equally, Broadway Market, which runs from London Fields to the Regent’s Canal, is one of the capital’s most popular markets for fresh produce and will hopefully bounce back once the restrictions on social distancing are lifted.
There should also be opportunities for new and fresh eateries to thrive once things return to normal, as demand for eating out is likely to soar after potentially months of lockdown.
You can find out more about things to do in Hackney, and the local schools on offer, here.
What about the property market?
Gentrification has inevitably led to higher prices, and the area was also boosted more than most by the 2012 Olympics thanks to its closeness to the Olympic Park.
According to Rightmove, Hackney currently has an overall average price of £593,651 – relatively affordable by London standards, meaning homes here are more in reach for ordinary buyers, while also being a figure that will be music to the ears of sellers.
Flats are the most popular type of home – unsurprising given the demographics of the area – selling for on average just over £503,000. Average prices for terraced and semi-detached properties are much pricier, comfortably over £1.2 million in the latter case.
In the overall borough, most property sales last year involved flats, selling for on average just over £538,300. Again, terraced and semi-detached properties fetched significantly higher. Rightmove says the priciest area within Hackney last year was Shoreditch (just over £700,000) and the least expensive was Clapton Common (just over £480,000).
Sold prices in Hackney borough have risen by 3% in the last year and are 3% up on 2017.
Flat-fronted early Victorian terraces are commonplace, as are fine period houses, converted warehouses, social housing estates and new blocks of flats. Mixed-used developments are becoming increasingly popular thanks to a policy introduced by Hackney council, while canal-side apartments are especially desirable.
Recent research has suggested that Hackney has had the highest house price growth of any London borough in the last few decades, climbing by a staggering 807% since 1995 – making it the hotspot for growth in the capital.
We appreciate it’s a very difficult time for everyone at the moment, but we are here to support our clients. We’re still open for business, with all of our staff currently working from home and finding new and innovative ways to sell and let homes while the crisis continues.
To contact us or our branches, please call on 02039538030.
We can do online viewings on all of our properties as we have been offering virtual tours for the past 2 years. You can view these properties here: https://www.kings-group.net/london/hackney/sales
