London Property

Has anyone experience in purchasing in East London. What are areas to avoid. Am interested in purchasing a BTL in that general area..... prices are lower and the returns look ok...

I can probably point you to a few agents in the area if that is what you are looking for. I have never lived there because I do not like that part of London - part of it are very rough. The Olympic regeneration ought to help as will the accompanying transport improvements but we have just seen a year of substantial price gains in the UK and the BoE is not happy. Expect at least one more rate increase if not two. What kind of yeilds are you looking at?

I was thinking about that also. I was looking around 6%. There seems to be 2 bed house for the 170 k in se2 but again I don't know much of this area. I wouldn't be overally concerned about the areas ( within reason) as long as the place would rent.

topman said:

I was thinking about that also. I was looking around 6%. There seems to be 2 bed house for the 170 k in se2 but again I don't know much of this area. I wouldn't be overally concerned about the areas ( within reason) as long as the place would rent.

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That's a risky strategy unless you want to hold it for ever! If you buy in a bad area that has little chance of coming up, you will have a real problem selling on. Some parts of East London have a long way to go in that regard. Try to buy if not in good areas, at least a block away from a good area in the hope that it is coming up and not going down!

London generally is a good bet -- loads of people still moving there and population increasing, good public transport and infrastructure etc. Demand should continue to outstrip supply for the forseable future. Best bets are fixer-uppers in reasonably good areas; fire damage is best if you can get it, it is usually not as bad as it looks and it puts off the amateurs who get their expertise from TV programmes.