Spotlight on Newham
In the year up to September 2016, house prices in
Newham increased by almost 21% –
making it London's fastest rising borough.[1] The Olympic Games legacy and the imminent arrival Crossrail have seen large-scale investment flowing in. With prices still relatively cheap, now could be the perfect time to invest in this strong-performing borough.
Stratford –the biggest winner at the Olympic Games
The 2012 London Olympics put the formerly unglamorous suburb of Stratford firmly on the map.Costing the UK £8.77bn, they were the catalyst for huge swathes of redevelopment and infrastructure improvements in and around Stratford.[2] Since the end of the Games, the focus has turned to getting value for money by creating a lasting legacy of jobs and housing.
It's estimated by 2030, the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park will be home to more than 10,000 new homes. With some of the best transport links in the city – to be further enhanced when Crossrail arrives in 2019 – the housing will be built across five new neighbourhoods, planned around green spaces and squares.
The park is also set to become home to some of London’s most exciting and innovative businesses. Here
East has turned the former Olympic Press and Broadcast Centres into a thriving new digital hub, and a £2.3bn new business district called The International Quarter will provide 4 million sq ft of flexible commercial office space along with associated retail, childcare and community facilities.[3]
Benefits spill over to Canning Town and Custom House
Keen to ensure the Olympic regeneration did not focus solely on Stratford, Newham Council has initiated a £3.7bn regeneration programme for
Canning Town and Custom House.[4] By the 2024, there will be an estimated 12,000 new homes in the area, along with 2 revitalised town centres, enhanced open spaces, improved local facilities, investment in infrastructure and the creation of thousands of new jobs.
Both towns have excellent transport links. CanningTown, which saw fares drop recently when it moved to Zone 2, offers commuters 10-minutes journeys to CanaryWharf via the Jubilee line and Docklands Light Railway. Nearby Custom House is also on the DLR and will soon have Crossrail services too – making a journey to Bond Street just 17 minutes. And compared to other areas with similar commuting times, property prices here are a steal.[5]
An explosion of growth at The Royal Docks
With plans to make it the Capital’s next business district, a staggering £6bn of private sector investment[6] is being pumped into London's Royal Docks. Already home to excellent transport links and London’s only designated Enterprise Zone, the regeneration will create a centre for global trade that will restore the Royal Docks as a powerhouse of the London economy. An estimated 15,000 new homes are planned for the brownfield site along with 8 million sq ft of commercial space – which is set generate up to 60,000 new jobs.[7]
At Royal Victoria Dock, five hectares of water will be transformed into a thriving community with floating homes, restaurants, cafes and bars. At Royal Albert Dock, numerous companies from China and other parts of Asia are to base their HQ’s in a sizable new business park, creating a new centre for Asian business in London.[8] And at Silvertown Quays, a £3.5bn project will restore iconic waterside buildings to provide offices, a tech hub, brand pavilions and 3,000 new homes.[9]
A borough blessed with 5 Crossrail stations
Newham will have stations on both branches of the eastern section of the Elizabeth line when it opens later this year. On the northern branch, there will be stops at
Stratford, Maryland, Forest Gate and Manor Park. And on the southern branch, commuters from Newham's new Custom House station will be among the first in the country to use the new Crossrail trains when they are rolled out on the Liverpool Street to Shenfield section, which is scheduled for May 2017.[10]
One of London's happiest boroughs
A recent wellbeing survey for the Office of National Statistics found that residents of Newham were among the most happy – behind only
Redbridge and Richmond. And as well as being the happiest, residents of Newham are also among the least anxious – yet another reason to invest in this up-and-coming borough.[11]
Current asking prices and rental yields
As of January 2017, the average value of properties in the borough of Newham is £359,830. This has seen an increase of 4.10% in the last 12 months and 52.31% in the last five years. For a
two-bedroom apartment, the average asking price is £469,463 and the average asking rent is £1,658pcm, which means the gross rental yield is currently 4.20%.[12]
This content is correct as of January 2017
