With its “beer mile” of microbreweries, brunch restaurants and bike repair hubs, Walthamstow has enjoyed a long reign as the hipster capital of London, with a correspondingly huge growth in house prices.
But hold on to your I heart Orford Road organic canvas shopper, because an unlikely new contender for the title of hottest east London property hotspot has emerged.
While E17 has hogged the headlines, Highams Park — yes, you will probably need Google Maps to place it, out beyond the North Circular and well on the way to Essex — has quietly been picking up steam.
Highams Park
Buyers priced out of more expensive parts of east London are heading to E4, where they can find period houses, swathes of green space, a strong community vibe and an increasingly exciting range of bars, cafés and shops.
Prices are responding accordingly. Across Waltham Forest, values have jumped by 120 per cent since 2012, while Walthamstow, its spiritual capital, has experienced 130 per cent growth in the same period.
But in the past five years Walthamstow’s rise has faltered. Since 2020, price growth has slowed to a below-inflationary 11 per cent, with prices now sitting at an average of £550,370.
Meanwhile, according to figures from estate agent Hamptons, Highams Park has seen price growth of 125 per cent since 2012. Over the past five, difficult years its outperformance has continued, with 19 per cent growth since 2020 and 2.5 per cent growth in the past year, to an average sale price of £597,020.
If that is too rich for your budget then, two miles up the road, South Woodford is also showing early signs of potential. Prices there have jumped by 70 per cent since 2012, and by eight per cent since 2020, to stand at an average £541,310.
When Juliet Thomas moved to Highams Park with her husband Simon some 11 years ago, they paid £325,000 for their three-bedroom 1930s semi.
Their neighbours recently sold their almost-identical home for £650,000, but the couple, both in their early fifties, are not tempted to cash in and move on. “I think we are going to stay forever,” she says.
Before moving to Highams Park the couple were renting in Crouch End. “It was just too expensive to buy anything there,” she says. “I had never heard of Highams Park but a friend lived there and I liked the villagey feel.”
Thomas, an illustrator (julietthomasdoodles.com), and her graphic designer husband have raised their two sons, aged 11 and 13, in Highams Park, and she has noticed the area change dramatically as more young people have moved in.
“There are lots more interesting little shops than there used to be,” she says. “It is also a very friendly place, lots of people organise events and there are always things going on.”
Regular local events include Saturday afternoon film screenings, arts and crafts markets and an annual picnic in the park, with a dog show, fairground rides and live music.
A local gardening group meets weekly to beautify flower beds and there are clubs for everything from crafting to ukulele playing.
Adam Demeza, sales manager at Breens estate agents, agrees Highams Park has changed significantly. When he started working there in 2007 most of his clients were locals moving up and down the property ladder.
Getting outsiders to come to Zone 4 was a challenge. “It was very, very difficult to get people to come and look at property here,” he says.
Today all that has changed, with younger buyers flooding in from Islington, Stoke Newington and Walthamstow. Certainly, the high street is now bursting with organic food shops and a range of bars from wine to tiki.
Special mention should go to Humphreys, a community café within The Highams Park itself. The café is based in a former air raid shelter which was renovated by volunteers, who also donated £15,000 to the project.
The rise of Highams Park has been spotted by developers, too. The Regal, an art deco former cinema, is earmarked for redevelopment into flats, plus a café bar and cinema screens, with work set to start by the end of the year. “A lot more people are noticing Highams Park,” says Demeza. “It is becoming a lot trendier.”
South Woodford
If your priorities are fantastic schools and slightly more affordable homes then South Woodford — known affectionately by locals as SoWo — feels positively rustic.
Its M&S, Waitrose, and Gail’s Bakery together scream affluent market town in the home counties, but you can still be in Oxford Circus in less than half an hour, and alongside the upper-end chains there are lots of local goodies from craft shops to chai cafes.
“We see the overflow from Walthamstow every week,” says Tony Platt, branch manager of The Stow Brothers estate agent, whose clients are mostly young professional families looking to upsize from a flat to a house. “The places which are slightly more trendy are just so expensive. It is far better value here.”
When she moved to London Faye Casson, 38, had never heard of South Woodford, and she moved into a flat in Camden. But her boyfriend — now her husband — Omar Ahmad, 39, was a local and raved about its delights so much that Faye agreed to move there.
She has been pleasantly surprised. “It is vibrant, but in a different way to Camden,” says Faye, an artist (fayecassonart.com).
“We have got Epping Forest on the doorstep, and although it is very residential you can be in central London in half an hour, so I feel like I have the best of both worlds.”
Faye and Omar, director of a care home company, have spent the last 15 years renovating their way up the property ladder, starting with a flat which they did up and sold, and moving on to a house which they bought for £500,000 and sold for £700,000.
Their current project is a chalet bungalow which they are going to transform into a family home for them and their two sons, aged 11 and 13.
“It is a very family oriented place — there are lots of young families — and it is a nice place for creatives to live, particularly if you are inspired by nature,” says Faye.
