Has property in inner London become cheaper?

[zatoria]

When we were looking at buying about ten - twelve years ago, property in Zone 1-2 was extortionate. You'd get a one bed flat for the price of a three bed house in somewhere like Brockley.

Now I've looked and you can get a 1 bed flat in Zone 1 for the same as a two bed flat in Brockley?!

Brockley, for example, has massively gentrified and is a really popular place to live. We don't live too far from there and house prices have rocketed in the last 8 years.

For example, you could buy a flat for £100k about 15 years ago. They're now going for close to £600k

House prices are insane. Nothing in our area for less than £1.1m and the big houses are getting closer to £2m

Agree that it sounds like price of houses verses the price of flats since covid/WFH rather than the price of inner London going down

The really big increase in zone 2 SE prices was from 2012 to 2020. The overground had opened up and there was a lot of renovation of neglected Victorian housing stock. It was quite common to see 2-bed flats shoot up from £225k to £550k+ over that period.

While you can find studios and 1-bed flats in zone 1 in this price range too, many look like problem properties. Eg under 30sqm, or next to train track, or on particularly grotty estates, or on extremely busy roads, or above commercial premises, or with short leases. In general they look like places that a landlord might hoover up as part of their portfolio. But not flats that a Londoner would think to buy as their sole residence.