What can you do in 20 minutes? Make and eat some pasta? Walk a mile? Idly scroll through Instagram looking for pretty pictures of other people’s fun summers? Alternatively, you can jump on the train and have the whole of central London at your disposal.
With about one in three of us now hybrid workers, commuting times have regained their importance when looking for a place to live. And even if you are a fully-fledged work-from-home devotee, you will naturally want to spend as little time as possible sweltering on the Tube.
Enter the 20-minute marvels — those sweet spots around the capital within a 20-minute hop of Zone 1.
Analysis by estate agent Hamptons of the 22 Tube and London Overground stations which fit the bill shows most have struggled to hold their value over the past 12 months — including all of those in north and south London. Homes in many locations are worth less today than they were in 2022, the pandemic peak of the market, before rising interest rates and the increased cost of living took hold.
But there are exceptions dotted around west and east London. The leafy urban village of Turnham Green recorded the strongest performance, with average prices up nine per cent in the past year, to an average £1.4 million. Too much? Homes around Herons Quays DLR station increased by just over three per cent in the past year, to hit an average sale price of £687,000.
Prices in fashionable Walthamstow, one of the biggest property success stories of the 21st century, are still rising — homes around Walthamstow Central and St James Street stations are up 1.5 per cent in the past year and now stand at an average of £713,000. And the Crossrail gravy train is still chugging along in Abbey Wood, with prices up one per cent to an average of £444,000.
Also in positive territory, on the other side of London, is West Acton, where prices have inched up half a per cent to stand at just over £1 million.
Best for families
Turnham Green
When Kirsty Cocker and her husband Andrew started thinking about having a family, they decided to move out of Fulham to somewhere leafier and more child-friendly.
Their choice was Turnham Green, nestled between Gunnersbury and Chiswick High Road. “We wanted to move somewhere that was green and leafy, with good schools and some nice restaurants, but because at the time we both worked in central London being able to get in and out easily was also very important,” says Cocker, 48, an interior designer and founder of Ixia London (ixialondon.com). “It seemed like the perfect spot.”
During their time in Turnham Green, Cocker and her husband, who works in marketing, have moved house several times, most recently taking on a semi-derelict semi and completely remodelling it. The house, which was completed in 2023, is the family’s forever home, shared with their three children, aged eight, 11 and 16.
What Cocker particularly likes about her neighbourhood is how friendly it is. “If I am walking somewhere I have to factor in an extra five or 10 minutes, because I know I am going to bump into people I know and want to stop and say hello,” she says.
The area’s community spirit is reflected in its busy events calendar: there are weekly street markets, an open gardens event and an annual summer fair, while the local padel courts host children’s five-a-side tennis and football tournaments every Friday. Cocker works from the Barley Mow Centre, a co-working space where she has found plenty of like-minded fellow creatives.
Given how idyllic it sounds, the great mystery is why Turnham Green has never quite ascended to the Premier League of London villages. It certainly has all the necessary attributes, including open space, good schools and beautiful period homes. Turnham Green Terrace and Devonshire Road are a real find for anybody who likes local, independent cafés, wine bars and bistros, or great foodie shops.
“There have been several transactions over £5 million in the past few months”
Chris Chalmers, Whitman & Co
Chris Chalmers, a director of Whitman & Co estate agents, believes the area’s price growth is being driven from the top. “There have been several transactions over £5 million in the past few months, and these houses are breaking new ground in terms of price.”
Their buyers tend to be either moving out of more central parts of west London or are local upsizers with jobs in the City or businesses of their own. They like the area’s community vibes combined with its easy access back into central London.
With family homes the engine of the Turnham Green market, buyers should expect to pay upward of £1.4 million for a four-bedroom semi. Flats are a different story. “Prices are £50,000 to £100,000 down from the peak which was in 2016,” says Chalmers, who said buyers could pick up a two-bedroom home from around £400,000.
Best for hidden value
Walthamstow
Unlike most of the rest of the planet, Mark Shaw was only very distantly aware of the rise of Walthamstow until he moved there. “I knew that people eulogised about it,” he says. “But I had never actually been.” What brought Shaw to E17 was a small, awkward plot of land which he spotted for sale at an auction. Shaw, 47, is an architect and founder of Studio Shaw, and was keen to build a house for himself and his partner Ash Smith, 40, who runs a fashion PR agency, Lobby PR.
Moving “out to the suburbs” was not Shaw’s first lifestyle choice. But building sites in London are hard to come by. After studying the location, close to St James Street station, on a map, he decided he could make it work.
In 2016 Shaw, then living in Stepney Green, paid £535,000 for the site. He split the land, selling half to friends who also wanted to build their own place. It took until 2019 to win planning consent and sign party wall agreements with the neighbours. It was not until the start of 2021 that the £350,000 project was complete and Shaw could finally see what all the Walthamstow fuss was about.
“I am a complete convert,” he says. Shaw’s office is in Shoreditch and he cycles there via Walthamstow and Hackney marshes, relishing the chance to enjoy nature on his way to and from work. “It is so quiet here, the air is cleaner, you can smell the greenery,” he says.
And while Walthamstow village, with its gastropubs and restaurants, gets all the hype, Shaw has seen the area around St James Street station, a mile west of the village, blossom in the past five years. First came Crate, a Boxpark-style collection of independent shops and cafés housed in former shipping containers, then a flurry of coffee shops and restaurants opened around it. “When we first finished the house there was nothing,” says Shaw. “It was pretty bleak. Now there is a café, another café, a bakery, a bar… It has been transformed.”
“It is all young couples with babies around here”
Mark Shaw
He thinks the reason house prices are still rising in his neighbourhood is that it continues to offer good value compared to more central parts of north-east London. “The houses here are small, basically they are two-up two-downs, with loft conversions and kitchen extensions. That makes them comparatively affordable for young families — it is all young couples with babies around here.”
Kim Heywood, sales director at Stow Brothers estate agents, agrees that relative value continues to draw buyers to Walthamstow. For the most bang for your buck she says the roads around St James Street station offer better value than the village — partly because of profile and partly because Walthamstow Central offers Victoria line services while St James Street has the Overground.
A three-bedroom Victorian terrace might sell for £800,000 to £850,000 near St James Street, but would cost up to £1.2 million in the heart of the village.
Best for starter houses
Abbey Wood
About three quarters of the buyers who come to Ben Mulvihill, assistant manager of Anthony Martin estate agents, are first-timers looking for a real London rarity: good train links plus affordability. “If you compare it with other areas which have the same journey time to central London, Abbey Wood is a lot cheaper,” says Mulvihill. “Prices are very competitive here, and you have got the Elizabeth line.”
Many of these buyers are renting in more expensive postcodes, from Canary Wharf to Stratford. They won’t find many glitzy tower blocks in Abbey Wood, but what they will find are streets of three-bedroom terraced houses with an average price of about £450,000. By buying a house they are able to miss out the bottom rung of the housing ladder entirely, saving on moving costs and stamp duty.
Although it has green space in the shape of the ancient woodlands at Lesnes Abbey Woods plus access to the grammar schools on the London/Kent borders, there is certainly a compromise for buyers looking for a house in Abbey Wood. While well connected, the arrival of the Elizabeth line has not triggered the kind of boom in small businesses which has elevated places like West Ealing. “There are not many restaurants, cafés, coffee shops,” agrees Mulvihill. “When people come from other parts of London this can put them off.”
As a local, Mulvihill notes that many residents have cars, allowing them to hop over to Bexleyheath and Sidcup for cinema or shopping trips and meals out. “In other parts of London you may not need a car, but here it is very useful,” he says.
