The cheapest areas to buy property in London

London is without doubt an expensive place to live: the average cost of a property in some boroughs is well over the £1m mark.

But the capital still has more affordable areas, according to the latest research from Rightmove.

London figures

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Rightmove last updated its breakdown of prices by London borough in March, when the number of sales agreed had surged by 34.4% to the highest at the time of year since 2016.

The average Greater London property asking price was £638,826, while Inner London prices were £792,140.

First-time buyers were shelling out £489,960 in the capital, compared £710,169 for second-steppers and over £1.5m for “top of the ladder” buyers.

The priciest area of the capital was the borough of Kensington and Chelsea, where asking prices hit £1.61m. Meanwhile, the cheapest area was Newham, where asking prices reached just £419k.

What about the effect of coronavirus?

The Covid-19 pandemic brought the housing market to a complete standstill.

Although it’s up and running again now, Rightmove’s Miles Shipside said the level of missed sales means the market “will be playing catch-up for the rest of the year”.

Andy Shepherd, chief executive of London estate agents Dexters, said: “We’re tremendously busy across all of our 70 London offices.

“Transaction numbers are increasing daily, over the past two weeks we’ve agreed sales on over 250 properties and arranged lettings on over 600, so 85 a day or 10 an hour in the working week.”

Rightmove’s borough-by-borough breakdown has not been updated since the coronavirus lockdown, but the website says the average asking price of a home in the capital is now £628,000, 1.7% lower than it was in March.

Table of London house prices