Epsom is on the up

Surrey commuter hotspot, Epsom, is likely to become more popular with a £31 million redevelopment of the existing station and bordering land.

As well as a brand new station and car park, there will be 117 new homes, a 64-bedroom hotel and convenience stores. Homes will go on sale in 2011 and the station will be finished by summer 2012. The project is a joint venture between Network Rail and Kier Property.

Elements is a new scheme of 322 homes in tree-lined avenues surrounded by Parkland, a short distance from Epsom Common. Here too houses have a contemporary-design twist with eco features.

Prices from £619,995 for the four-bedroom Redwoods house type; apartments cost from £229,995. Call Crest Nicholson on 0870 751 3958.

Balham and Tooting have the "metro" factor

Like a lot of south London, Balham and Tooting spent much of the 20th century asleep in run-down respectability - until the Eighties property boom, when buyers priced out of neighbouring Clapham started to search further down the Northern line.

Today, homes in sought-after enclaves such as Heaver Estate, bordering Tooting Bec Common - which has a wonderful refurbished lido dating back to 1906 - command similar prices to Clapham, but in general properties remain a good 15 per cent cheaper.

Trinity Crescent is one of the most expensive roads in the area, boasting splendid mid-19th century stucco houses and handsome mansion flats. Here a boutique development of nine apartments (right) has been built on a former garden plot. The Art Deco-inspired low-rise architecture fits nicely into the tree-lined road.

The apartments are swish - with oak floors throughout, underfloor heating, luxury kitchens, generous-size balconies plus secure parking and bicycle storage. Prices start at £249,950 and rise to £435,000. Tooting Bec tube, the common and the villagey hub around Bellevue Road are a short walk.

Balham, nearer to Clapham, is trendier than Tooting, and is popular with young metro types who fill the bars and restaurants along the lively high road. Blueprint, just off the main drag, is a stylish gated-scheme of 50 flats on the site of an old printing works. Two-bedroom flats cost from £419,950. Call Foxtons on 020 8772 8000.

Metropolis, on Shipka Road, appeals to City bankers who are willing to pay as much for a large, superior apartment as they would for a smaller house in the area, according to Tom Yeomanson of Foxtons. This scheme has eight garden flats and duplexes with open-plan interiors and terraces. A 1,200 sq ft duplex is for sale at £565,000.

Nearby Trinder Mews is a tucked-away gated development of two-bedroom, eco-friendly houses, each with an open-plan kitchen-reception space opening onto a sizeable garden. The homes are likely to strike a chord with couples living locally who want to put down family roots in the area. Prices from £399,950 to £455,000. Call Kinleigh Folkard & Hayward on 020 8222 7200.

The revival of Deptford's riverside retreats

Historic Deptford Strand is the exotic-sounding name of a riverside strip between Rotherhithe and Greenwich in south-east London. It still looks much the same as it did 40 years ago - a neglected waterfront of derelict warehouses, run-down Georgian architecture and industrial sheds blocking off access to the Thames.

But change is afoot. Stand on the riverfront and the domes of Greenwich Naval Hospital and the glittering skyscrapers of Canary Wharf are in full view. The land occupies a dramatic deep water bend of the river - one reason why Henry VIII decided to site his first, and most important, royal dockyard here in 1513; the place where the king’s flagship Mary Rose and the Golden Hind were built, and where Peter the Great of Russia spent three months learning the art of shipbuilding in 1698.

The listed Master Shipwright’s House and offices, built in 1708, are squeezed between 40-acre Convoys Wharf, owned by Lots Road power station developer Hutchison Whampoa, who plans a large housing scheme, and a prized Victorian warehouse complex called Paynes and Borthwick Wharves (right), mothballed because of the credit crunch but soon to be revived as a new “cultural destination”, with 247 flats, art gallery, design studios, workshops, exhibition space, cafe-restaurant and riverside promenade.

For a bold buyer of financial means who is comfortable with the gritty SE8 location, the master shipwright’s house is a rare opportunity - a chance to own one of the grandest riverside retreats in London. The property has more than 10,000 sq ft of space and room for 40 cars, and is on the market with an asking price of £5 million. It has been part-renovated by the current owners, who bought it 10 years ago. Call estate agent Jackson Stops & Staff on 020 7664 6646.

“Arguably it has the potential to be the best house on the river in London but how may people with £5 million in their back pocket want to live in Deptford?” questioned another (uninstructed) estate agent. Regeneration of the neighbouring land and buildings is likely to boost the value.

Few people have seen the impressive facade of listed Paynes Wharf, built in 1860 for the manufacture of marine boilers which were loaded onto ships through magnificent Italianate arches. The bulk of the original wharf is earmarked as an exhibition and commercial space, while 12 glass-walled duplex penthouses are to be built on top. Alongside will be an 18-storey residential tower. Contact estate agent King Sturge on 020 7715 9700.

Despite trying to tempt millionaires, this part of Deptford is first-time buyer territory. Theatro (left) is a small apartment scheme on Creek Road, moments from the Laban Dance Centre, where a “creative village” with several hundred homes is being built.

Theatro prices start at £350,000 for two-bedroom apartments, and the developer is offering a “live-free-for-a-year” incentive - a refund service charge and mortgage costs - which it says is worth between £28,498 and £39,844. Call 0800 043 2523.

Live the high life for less in Canary Wharf

Canary Wharf’s housing market has been quietly readjusting since the 2008 financial crisis. Property prices as well as banks came down with a crash. But a recovery has set in, due to nimble-footed developers biting the bullet and re-marketing homes at enticing prices - up to 30 per cent “discounts”.

Many of the apartments now for sale were originally bought off-plan by investors who failed to complete the purchase. One conspicuous development, as its name confirms, is The Landmark, a pair of towers (right) moments from the Canary Wharf dealing rooms.

All 650 flats were snapped up by an investment company when the market was booming. A good many were sold on to individual buyers - but then Lehman Brothers collapsed...

Alex Finch, of estate agent King Sturge - employed by the off-shore developer to sort out the mess - tells me: “you could call it a relaunch, but really it is a launch because the homes were never really marketed to the public”.

The two dockside towers are now nearing completion and will be ready for occupants from July 2010. The sleek modern architecture slots nicely into the landscape of shiny skyscrapers. Homes have floor-to-ceiling glazing to maximise the splendid views, comfort cooling and crisp, stylish interior design (pictured below). They are also a little larger than many other apartments built during this period.

Prices start at £245,000 for one-bedroom flats and rise to £1.35 million for a three-bedroom penthouse. There is underground parking and a hotel-style reception lobby with 24-hour concierge, plus a residents’ only gym.

Boutiques and restaurants are earmarked for commercial space around a landscaped piazza. Call 020 7087 7971.

On average, the revised prices equate to about £600 per sq ft. At the peak, some Canary Wharf apartments reached nearly £1,000 per sq ft.

At Millennium Quarter, across the dock from The Landmark, apartments are for sale at several other schemes that started life before the credit crunch. Ability Place has 360 private flats, about 40 of which remain. Prices start at £331,000 for a 663 sq ft one-bedroom apartment. An 807 sq ft two-bedroom flat costs from £404,000. Call 020 7993 7395.

Indescon Court is a redevelopment of a low-rise business estate built in the 1980s. Earlier this year, Galliard resold 200 failed completion flats during a weekend “fire sale”. A second phase of the development is due, bringing the total number of apartments to 364. Call 020 7620 1500.

Newly built houses and apartments for Greenwich

The gracious old naval town of Greenwich offers homes of most shapes and sizes, ages and prices - swish riverside apartments, quaint cottages, Georgian townhouses, Victorian terraces and period conversions. Quite rare are newly-built houses with a contemporary design twist and flexible interiors suitable for modern family living.

David Mews fills this gap. Tucked away at the end of a cobbled lane on the cusp of the conservation area is a back garden plot where three new properties are rising from the ground.

Space constraints demanded clever architectural thinking. Set over three floors, each house extends to 1,750 sq ft and features an internal glass atrium allowing light to flood into the subterranean basement - the main living area - and the upper levels.

The basement is an open-plan space set around a courtyard formed by the atrium. A family room, bedroom and terrace occupy the ground floor, while on the top floor are another two bedrooms, with sky lights puncturing a green-planted roof.

Externally, the look is traditional - stock brick and rather boxy - but the interior design by Target Living is crisp and modern, with timber, stone and glass finishes. A central staircase is enclosed on one side by floor-to-ceiling glass rather than having a low-level balustrade. A parking space comes with each house.

It is a charming location - away from the busy town centre and almost hidden behind a pretty parade of shops on Greenwich South Street. Completion is still some time off. Prices are expected to be around £800,000, less than some riverside flats. Call King Sturge on 020 7715 9700.

Canary Wharf bankers who want to put down roots in the Greenwich area are likely buyers.

Several big new apartment schemes are sprouting up around the town centre in advance of the 2012 Olympics, which will cast the international spotlight on Greenwich.

The most eye-catching scheme coming out of the ground is Greenwich Creekside (left), the first phase (242 flats) of a new “creative quarter” alongside the Laban Dance Centre. Modern, glass architecture by Squire and Partners raises the bar. Homes include penthouse flats with river and park views. Plans include a jazz venue, galleries, canalside bars and restaurants. Prices from £240,000. Call Telford Homes on 020 8694 8186.

New Capital Quay, nearby, is being built in a dock basin so deep a cruise liner terminal was once earmarked. When complete in 2013, the development will have 636 flats across 11 blocks, one a “peninsula building” rising to 15 storeys. Call Galliard Homes on 020 7620 1500.

Tenancy renewal fees are "a trap" for landlords

Avoiding “voids”, periods when a property has no tenant, is the number one priority for most buy-to-let landlords - me included.

I’ve been lucky with tenancies - often people renew, one is still in-situ after five years. But having paid an estate agent a large fee  (typically 12 per cent of the annual rent) for finding the tenant in the first place (justifiable perhaps), is it right or fair for the agent to charge the same again for merely preparing the renewal contract?

Well, no, according to the Office of Fair Trading (OFT), which last year secured a landmark judgment in the High Court. The ruling was that repeat commission charges buried in the small print of a contract represented “a trap” for landlords.

Agents could have chosen to appeal, like high street banks did over the issue of overdraft charges, but chose not to. Recently the OFT secured a court order against a well-known London agent (Foxtons), which will act as a test case and should make the situation crystal clear for agents and landlords. Renewal fees have to be reasonable and transparent.

Following this victory, the National Landlords Association (NLA) has got the bit between its teeth and wants “money-for-nothing” renewal fees scrapped.

In the past, I’ve occasionally negotiated a lower commission (five or six per cent) for the agent to do the renewal contract. The NLA says a flat fee - perhaps £100 - is appropriate because “it’s a simple, mechanical exercise”.

Agents won’t like it but they may have to bite the bullet. Meanwhile, landlords are urged to check the small print before signing the contract - and don't be afraid to haggle.

To search for property to rent in London, visit http://www.homesandproperty.co.uk/lettings/greater-london.

Signs of life in the buy-to-let sector

After a torrid two years, there are signs of life in the buy-to-let sector. Rents are rising again - fastest in prime central London where there is growing demand from City employees - and the mortgage freeze is thawing.

Arguably now is a good time to enter (or re-enter) the market. Average rental returns, or “yields”, are nudging five per cent and compare favourably with the much lower savings rates offered by banks, while those who buy sensibly at this stage in the “property cycle” - at or close to the bottom of the market - can expect decent capital growth over the medium- to long-term.

Another positive is that mortgage rates are lower than they were two years ago. But you will need a hefty cash deposit.

The number of lenders offering deals is still more than two-thirds down since the start of the credit crunch. At the peak of the boom in April 2007, 3,662 mortgage products were available, and 65 per cent of these required a deposit of 10 or 15 per cent, which enticed a horde of speculators. Today, there are fewer than 250 buy-to-let mortgage deals to choose from, according to online comparison service Moneyfacts.

The minimum deposit required is 25 per cent, and to get one of the better rates you will have to put down 40 per cent. Principality Building Society is offering 3.49 per cent on a 60 per cent loan-to-value basis. NatWest has a 4.99 per cent deal, with a £1,999 fee and maximum loan-to-value of 75 per cent. As a cushion, lenders routinely want rent to cover 125 per cent of mortgage repayments.

Strict criteria are no bad thing. It means buyers have to take a more conservative approach, cherry pick properties with higher yields and stay with their investment for a longer period. Having to put in more of your own money can actually increase the return you get because you pay less in mortgage costs.

Would-be landlords who cannot raise a big enough mortgage to buy direct have another option: they can invest indirectly through a property fund, where the entry price is much lower, typically £20,000- £500,000.

Property funds have mushroomed during the last two years, with predatory managers trying to take advantage of the price crash.

London crashpads top the commuter wish list

With snow storms cutting off popular commuter towns such as Basingstoke and turning motorways into car parks, who can blame London-bound workers for wanting a city centre crashpad?

London employees have the longest average commute in Europe (43 minutes), according to the RAC. A study by the mayor’s office reveals that more than 770,000 people (about 23 per cent of London’s workforce) commute into the capital daily. Ten per cent of commuters travel for over two hours a day, while the average distance travelled is 51.3 km.

Walk-to-work commuters helped fuel the buy-to-let boom of the Noughties when developers rushed to build bijou apartments for busy professionals, mainly those working in financial services. Many of these apartments have reappeared on the market for sale or for rent. In some places, prices are down by as much as 20 per cent on three years ago.

Apart from quality of life reasons, it can make financial sense to buy a pied-a-terre in a vibrant or emerging business district because continuing demand normally boosts values over the longer term.

As with Canary Wharf, regeneration is creating new white-collar areas alongside traditional office locations such as the West End and City.

“Midtown” - sandwiched between the Square Mile and Covent Garden - has been colonised by law and accountancy firms; creative sector companies are fleeing to Camden, Clerkenwell and Shoreditch.

Train stations too are becoming key business hubs in their own right. Paddington, with its rejuvenated canalside and fast Heathrow link, has enticed Marks and Spencer and other blue chip corporates. Redevelopment of White City, anchored by the BBC, is a new business address for west London, while Victoria is no longer just a workplace for civil servants. Progressing fast is King’s Cross Central, with four million sq ft of office and retail space plus 2,000 homes.

Shard of Glass (pictured above), now rising on the forecourt of London Bridge station, will be Europe’s tallest skyscraper when complete in May 2012, a “vertical village”, with flats, shops, offices and hotel rooms making up the 80 storeys. The tower will transform the area around the station, one of London’s busiest, with 375,000 rail users per day. With over one million sq ft of office space, thousands of people will work at the Shard.

A stone’s throw away, alongside City Hall, is London Bridge City, a new office quarter for 20,000 workers

Such projects give local neighbourhoods a boost by making them a better place to live as well as work. Walk up and down trendy Bermondsey Street and you will see it is already benefiting from the “Shard effect”.

Studio apartments in zone one start at about £250,000. Those at Frobisher Crescent, a refurbished block at the Barbican, cost from £350,000.

Renting is a cheaper option for those who cannot afford to buy a bolthole in the centre of London. Estate agency Young London is offering luxury apartments at The Landmark, a tower block only 500 metres from the Canary Wharf trading rooms. Prices from £300 per week. At myBASE1 in Borough, flats in a swish new apartment scheme cost from £325 per week. At Devonshire Street, Mayfair (pictured left and below), rentals cost from £250 per week. Call 020 7593 3300 or visit www.younglondon.co.uk.

London workers can find out the cost of renting in any area of London by using a new interactive website set up by that avid bicycle commuter, Boris Johnson. Simply key in the street or postcode and you get area averages for the size of accommodation you want.

This “rents map” reveals that South Kensington is the most expensive place to rent (typically £625 per week). For smaller budgets, the current average rent for a shared house in the capital is £92 per week. Visit www.london.gov.uk/rents.

About David

I am a property writer whose weekly articles have appeared in the Evening Standard since 1986. My authoritative property features have won many awards.

A born-and-bred Londoner, I live in the same house in New Cross, south-east London, which I moved into with my family over 25 years ago.