If you had up to £1m budget, where would you buy in zone 1/2 London?

[Aiying]

Criteria: 4-bed house with garden, family-friendly area, good state schools, close to transport (ideally tube), shops/amenities, nearby parks/green space, up-and-coming area/potential for price appreciation. (not asking for much...) The depressing thing is that £1m doesn't buy all that much in zone 1/2 London and due to work circumstances it's not possible to move out much further. Anyone have experience of Clapham South, Putney or West Hampstead? Any future 'hotspots' (e.g. Crossrail) ? Would be commuting daily into East London (Docklands). Any suggestions welcome! Thank you

[SqueakyCleanNameChange]

I love SW London, and agree with you about tube rather than overground, but it's a crazy commute to Canary Wharf - look North and East, and compromise on house size/decor rather than spending days each year on a soul-destroying commute.

[freelancegirl]

Greenwich all the way (waves to euro!). It's zone 2 and straight into the wharf on the dlr, the jubilee, the boat or even cycling/walking under the river. Lovely and green but well connected too into town. It is full of wharf workers now but still get a lovely house for a million.

[BettyYeti]

i agree W Hampstead is a good bet if in budget given jubilee line.

Re Islington, parts of highbury and the area near canonbury station (eg newington green) may be just doable on your budget. You can get the overland from either highbury or canonbury to the stratford area (with tube from highbury also available). Have a look within the (small) catchment for grasmere primary.
greenwich is where i would look if I worked at Canary Wharf but i have no idea on house prices there.

[plantsitter]

Brockley. Zone 2, overground and nat rail, family friendly, good state primaries, up and coming. And you could buy a mansion right next to the park frankly.

[kalidasa]

West Hampstead is nice and the Jubilee line is good. We are in NW3 and £1 million definitely doesn't buy you a four bed house there but I'm not sure about West Hampstead. If it's in your budged I would recommend it though.

[pinkdelight]

Another vote for Balham. You could get a nice house by the common for that and have the tube/overland and the kind of vibe you're looking for. Just make sure you do your research re school catchments, although that goes for anywhere in London.

[ihearsounds]

Finsbury Park. Highbury. Hackney. Close to everything.

[PassTheCremeEggs]

*live. Not love. I do love it though!

[PassTheCremeEggs]

Earlsfield. Super family friendly, get more for your money than in Clapham and a really lovely place to live, full of young families. I love here and work in canary wharf - 13-15 mins mainline train to Waterloo and 15 mins jubilee line to canary wharf. Easy as anything. But it's zone 3 - only downside based on your criteria.

[MacMac123]

Shepherds bush (central line). Or ravens court park

[Southeastdweller]

Most of these areas people are suggesting are great but just too much of a faff to get to and from work. I personally feel that having an easy commute is something that can never be taken for granted.

I don't know anything about schools but Brockley and Hackney (where I used to live) fit most of your requirements and are near Canary Wharf. Blackheath is good but perhaps a bit far out for you. If you don't fancy any of those then I would go for West Hampstead, on the Jubilee line.

[21march]

If I worked in Canary Wharf I'd look East or North. Or somewhere like Brockley.

You're absolutely mad to consider SW London - it's about as far from where you work as it's possible to go.

Also don't be discouraged by sky-high asking prices. You're in the same price bracket as us and you'd be surprised what people are willing to take versus what they're asking.

Asking prices are even more speculative than usual in London at the moment and we've been encouraged by agents to make offers of a million on places being marketed on Rightmove at up to £1.3m.

Since they got rid of interest only mortgages, the pool of Londoners buying has shrunk dramatically in this bracket. I'm told foreign money does not like areas that are not already gentrified so the field is much clearer than the hype would suggest. Having said that, the pool of houses on the market is very small because no one can afford to move and lose their interest only superlow SVR .

[OrchidFlakes]

Random thought. If you're going to docklands what about Chingford? 20 mins to Liverpool St. V green and you'd get ALOT for your money.

[HotelTangoFoxtrotUniform]

Vauxhall works if you're after up and coming. There's a huge amount of regeneration going on with the American Embassy coming and the Northern Line extension. Property prices around here are only going one way! I can't comment on schools but its a really convenient place to live. Buses go everywhere, we have the Victoria and Northern lines within a few minutes (soon to be even closer) and the overground too. We've found that whenever there's a public transport hiccup we've always managed to get home easily as there are so many options.

It is, however, a bit of a wasteland at the moment and is likely to remain so for a few years at least (though we have just got a Waitrose ) so if you're ok with having to walk the forty minutes to Covent Garden or half hour to the south bank for entertainment it's not too bad.

[OrchidFlakes]

West hampstead is lovely. Lived there for 3.5 yrs. v family friendly and great access to town and to get out!

Have you considered islington? £1m might be tight but worth a look

[pootlebug]

Was going to suggest either Blackheath/Lewisham borders or Greenwich - both on DLR so easy for Canary Wharf.

[lucidlady]

There are some lovely houses on Blackheath/Lewisham borders in that price range - lewisham is on DLR so have a look there.

[EuroShaggleton]

If you're commuting to the Wharf, have a look at Brockley/Honor Oak. Mr euro's commute to the Wharf is 10 mins... £1m would buy quite a lot of house. Other options would be Greenwich, Isle of Dogs or Limehouse - don't forget you have the DLR out there.

[miaowmix]

E Dulwich, Peckham, Oval/Kennington

[Mendi]

Aiying £1m is not out of budget for Honeywell catchment. I have 2 friends who have recently sold on Broomwood Road for slightly under the £1m mark and both were 4 bedrooms, lovely homes. Keep looking!

[Troubledjo]

OP I totally agree re the tube thing. I moved out for a while too and was driven mad by the unreliability of trains and the cost of a late-night taxi home if you missed the last one. I guess everyone's different.

[audrey01]

We used to live in Pimlico SW1 before children and when we decided to move, we chose Clapham South as it was not very far from central London where I worked and we could buy much more for our budget. Close to the tube station, there are lots of houses that have been converted into flats. The few houses that come on the market have either been extended or need lots of work done. The former ones sell around the £850k mark (we sold last year our 4-bed house, which was 5min from Clapham South tube station) or more (if you're in the Nightingale Triangle or towards Abbeville Road).

From a school point of view, the closest primaries were Alderbrook (a relatively good school, improving, my daughter was there until recently), Bonneville (heard good things, but don't know anyone with children there) and Henry Cavendish (very good reputation, small catchment area, will not get in if your house is too close to the tube station, we were on the waiting list). We have decided to move a bit closer to Northcote Road where we can have a chance for the outstanding schools (Honeywell and Belleville) as they are feeder schools into the new state secondary Bolingbroke Academy (on Bolingbroke Grove), which opened last September.

[Aiying]

PS: would be open to overland trains (hence considering Putney - and Dulwich) but only within zone 2 (maybe up to 3!) ...and ideally with a tube option not too far away.

[Aiying]

I had not considered Vauxhall, it does look like you get a lot more for your money there, Burgmansia.

Fridayschild and flatmum - fair point about being focused on tube stations. Guess I'm in the minority of Londoners who prefer the tube to overland for the daily commute. I agree overland trains generally more pleasant, but I like being able to just walk into a tube station knowing that the next train is a few minutes away - it makes a difference in the morning as I have to be at my desk by 615am. And a cab ride home is easier on those occasions where I have to do a late one at work.

I used to work in areas outside London (Surrey, Kent, Slough) while living in zone 1 and I found that personally I didn't like being tied to specific overland train times, and having to wait 15mins for the next one if I'd missed one etc. But also, maybe am just traumatised by the number of times I got stuck due to SW Trains breaking down...!

I do love having central London on my doorstep, it's convenient, and I like busy city life. Apart from commute to work I have some evening/weekend studies in zone 1 London and my social/children activities are centred in zone 1/2 London. Almost all my friends still live centrally. So I'm trying to avoid a bigger upheaval (i.e. moving out to the suburbs) unless absolutely necessary.

Thanks very much for the suggestions so far - anyone else?

[flatmum]

I don't understand the central London near a tube thing. I work in Canary Wharf and live in Surrey. most of the people I work with live in Essex. Many live much further afield. Overland trains are way more pleasant that the tube. When I lived in clap ham common the Northern Line /Jubilee Line to Canary Wharf was one if the most hellish things I have ever had to endure and the main reason I moved out zone 6 way. My commute is the same.

Is distance to canary wharf the only reason for central London? If so I think that can be very deceptive as the overland trains into Waterloo, London bridge, and the ones that come in from the east can be the same or faster journeys.