Lewisham house price rises

The BBC reports that over the year to December 2012, Lewisham experienced the sixth-fastest rise in house prices of the 33 London boroughs. The 11.9% rise occurred despite a 1.6% fall in the last quarter and was driven mainly by large increases in house prices, rather than modest increases in the price of flats.

There are so many house price indices, which tell so many conflicting stories, that it's tempting to discount all of them. However, it's been a while since we featured one, so here we are...

The table underlines a long-term London trend, which is the re-population of inner London by people on higher incomes after decades of decline until the 1980s. Looking down the table, there is a clear divide between the inner boroughs, which have mostly experienced large price rises, and the outer boroughs, where price rises have mostly been in the low single-digits. Ranking the boroughs by annual increases, the lowest-placed inner borough is Tower Hamlets at 22. Only two outer boroughs (Brent and Ealing) make the top ten.

After decades of flight to the suburbs and the home counties, the middle classes have rediscovered the advantages and pleasures of urbanity, while super-prime buyers in Kensington & Chelsea, Westminster and Camden have led urbanites with money to look at other inner London locations.

Lewisham is still among the cheapest boroughs in London (26th most expensive average price out of 33), but  nowhere in inner London will be cheap by the next decade.

With thanks to Monkeyboy.