Focus On Camberwell: benefiting from its gentrified neighbours?
With its artistic roots and good transport connections, Camberwell is seen as the good value neighbour of south London’s most gentrified neighbourhoods. “A lot of buyers often start their search with us in central Brixton, but soon find out they could get more moving slightly further out,” says Luke Tubb, sales manager at Foxtons Brixton.
Buying consultant Jamie Burnhope from Black Brick has also noticed the area’s cool-by-association. “The main reason for price rises in Camberwell has been the improvement and increased popularity of nearby areas with better transport links, i.e. Elephant & Castle, Brixton and Vauxhall.”
An Italian feast at Theo's Pizzeria on Grove Lane (Source: Dave Clack)
But one mustn’t overemphasise SE5’s outsider status – it is nestled in Zone Two after all, with overground trains from Denmark Hill reaching Victoria in 12 minutes and Kings Cross in 23. And, if it’s announced as one of the new stations on the extension of the Bakerloo Line, it’ll be even closer to central London. Burnhope predicts a “rapid rate of price increases” if this does turn out to be the case.
Regardless, there are a number of exciting regeneration projects sprouting up in Camberwell, making it a place that’s ripe for investment. Lambeth Council has earmarked £11m worth of improvements, including a state-of-the-art public library, a chef school and a theatre, while the National Lottery is funding the Myatt’s Fields Park project, which will spruce up the 14-acre Victorian green space.
There’s also a diversity of housing stock to choose from, ranging from Victorian family houses, Georgian terraces and ex-council apartment blocks, which are particularly sough after by first time buyers.
New homes include The Somerleyton Road scheme – nearer Brixton – will see 300 new homes built by Lambeth Council, with reserved for “affordable rents”; housing association Notting Hill Housing is building a collection of apartments, duplexes and three-bedroom townhouses overlooking Burgess Park, all private sales or available through Shared Ownership or Help to Buy; and Wing by Hyde New Homes, offering 132 new apartments that will go on sale with Colliers International in the spring.
A cup of Lumberjack coffee (Source: Greg Sigston, City A.M.)
But, as with almost every borough in London at the moment, demand is far outstripping supply, which saw asking prices rise by 20 per cent between December 2014 and December 2015. In the same time, the number of properties on the market has fallen by 11 per cent.
While there’s certainly a smattering of former students from the Camberwell College of Art and Goldsmiths University who enjoy the handful of art galleries nearby, the area is also popular with NHS trainees and workers from Kings College and Maudsley Hospitals. But recently its appeal has become a lot wider, according to Grace Leslie, a senior marketing executive at developer Londonnewcastle.
“This adjustment in demographic appears to have happened somewhat in tangent with the aesthetic change Camberwell has seen recently.
“Many of its longest standing pubs and bars having been re-furbished or “gastrofied” and piecemeal regeneration has come with the completion of various new developments around Camberwell Green and Northward on Camberwell Road.”
