New homes in Merton

Spotlight on Merton

Home to the UK’s biggest annual sporting event, The Wimbledon Championships draw nearly half a million visitors to Merton each year. Yet there’s more to this borough than just tennis. Fast Tube links, an abundance of wide open space and a village feel all add to its appeal. With regeneration planned across the east of the borough and Crossrail 2 on the horizon, now could be a great time to invest in this outer London suburb. Wimbledon town centre poised for growth Wimbledon is renowned throughout the world for its lawn tennis championships. SW19 is also Merton’s major commercial centre, containing over 50% of the borough’s jobs spread across retail, office, creative, entertainment and professional services. With a predicted rise in jobs in these sectors, the council seeks to leverage Wimbledon’s global brand to position itself as an attractive outer-London business location. Wimbledon station is the only station in London with an interchange between rail, Underground, and Tramlink services, with trains to London Waterloo taking just 17 minutes.[1] If Crossrail 2 receives the green light from the Government, the planned station at Wimbledon would invite massive regeneration and accelerate the town’s growth. To pave the way, Merton Council is now consulting on a masterplan which will lay the blueprint for how the town centre is developed over the next 15 years.[2] Connecting and improving Colliers Wood Colliers Wood town centre will be benefiting from a joint scheme backed by City Hall, Merton Council and Transport for London to improve footpaths, cycleways and sections of the high street to create better access. The project is making the area more inviting for shoppers, commuters and visitors coming to explore the beautiful Wandle Park and the historic Abbey Mills nearby. Colliers Wood Tower, the town’s disused tower block, is getting a long-awaited makeover. Criterion Capital is converting the 17-storey block into 150 flats and creating a new town square between the tower and the Tube station. Further up the high street, a striking 7-storey development of new homes will open later this year which also houses an impressive new public library.[3] Proving increasingly popular with those priced out of Balham and Tooting, Colliers Wood is an easy place to commute from – the journey to London Bridge takes only 22 minutes.[4] Over a thousand new homes in Morden’s housing zone As one of the Mayor of London’s housing zones highlighted to accelerate housing development, Morden town centre has been allocated £42m to help kick-start the redevelopment of the area around the Tube station. With plans to capitalise on Morden’s Northern line connections to central London, the council wants to create over 1,000 new homes here by 2025 as well as new retail, business and public space. With the potential for the construction of some taller buildings, the council is currently consulting with residents to develop a draft masterplan which will help to shape the town’s future. Ideally placed at the start of the Northern Line, Tube journeys from Morden to Bank take just 29 minutes. With an overall average 2016 property price of £400,298, Morden is cheaper than nearby Worcester Park (£437,394), Merton Park (£669,265) and Raynes Park (£607,567), making this Zone 4 neighbourhood one to watch.[5] Rejuvenating Mitcham town centre A £6m project to rejuvenate Mitcham town centre is nearing completion. As part of the Rediscover Mitcham scheme, the market square has been refurbished, Fair Green has been re-landscaped with new trees and public areas, and the historic clock tower has been restored. The final phases include converting a section of the main thoroughfare into a bus and cycle-only street to make access to public transport easier and encourage more visitors to the heart of the town.[6] Beautiful wide open spaces and a village feel with low crime A suburban borough, Merton has a significant amount of green space. With over 60 parks, an impressive 25% of its area is classed as open space, compared to a London average 10%.[7]Highlights include Wimbledon Common, Mitcham Common, the Wandle Valley Regional Park and the wonderful National Trust-owned Morden Hall Park. Despite its close proximity to central London, many areas of Merton feel more like leafy Surrey. The borough was once made up of rural villages and places such as Wimbledon village and Mitcham still retain a village feel. The crime rate in Merton is 60 crimes per 1,000 residents, as compared to the London average of 84, which is among the lowest in the Capital.[8] Current asking prices and rental yields The current average property value in the London borough of Merton is £642,175. It has increased 5.58% in the last 12 months and 42.62% in the last five years. For a two-bedroom flat, the average asking price is £520,124 and the average asking rent is £1,784pcm, which means the gross rental yield is currently 4.10%.[9] This content is correct as of March 2017