First-time buyers: Zone 2 shared-ownership flats from £129,500

This budding Zone 2 hotspot in east London holds plenty of appeal for young buyers. We take a look at the new homes available for first-time buyers...

Rebranding: new-build properties and cafés line Regent’s Canal, dubbed the Haggerston Riviera. Image: Alex Lentati

A remarkable wave of regeneration and gentrification has transformed the East End over the past five years. Areas that buyers might once have dismissed are today too expensive to consider.
 
Which is why the chance to buy a share of a one-bedroom flat in Haggerston for just less than £130,000 is a great opportunity for first-time buyers.
 
Its location makes it perfect walking distance to Brick Lane, Broadway Market, Hoxton or London Fields.

READ MORE: LONDON HOMES FOR UNDER £300,000

• 
  
• 
• 

• 
  

L&Q has 48 one-, two- and three-bedroom homes for sale on a shared ownership basis at The City Mills development on Haggerston Road. Later in the year, another 74 homes, including two houses, will be launched.
 
Each property at The City Mills has its own balcony or terrace and some come with parking spaces. Prices start at £129,500 for a 35 per cent share of a one-bedroom flat with a full market value of £370,000.
 
Priority will be given to people who live in Hackney and north-east London. For more information, call L&Q on 0844 406 9800.
 
There are many advantages to life at The City Mills. It is a five-minute walk to Haggerston station, which has services to either Moorgate or King’s Cross in less than 30 minutes.
 
It’s on the East London Line with direct services to Canary Wharf and, for those who prefer the Tube, Hoxton station is about half a mile away.
 
There is also green space nearby, such as Haggerston Park, which is home to Hackney City Farm, and masses to do within a short walk.
 

Perfect chance: prices for shared ownership apartments at The City Mills start from £129,500 for a 35 per cent share

 
Its only downsides are that, as yet, Haggerston is mainly a residential area, which means there is not a real centre. So you may have to walk for 10 minutes to reach your morning shot of caffeine.
 
And it is not the most beautiful place on earth, being a target of Second World War bombing and shameful Sixties and Seventies cheap and poorly designed social housing.
 
On the bright side, it has many attractions including the fabulous Geffrye Museum and Columbia Road Shops & Flower Market.
 
Nick Robinson, of estate agents Blake Stanley, says that the housing market here is “nice and strong, but not nutty” and he believes that over the next few years annual price growth will be healthy but not dramatic — between five and 10 per cent.
 
His typical buyers are 25- to 35-year-olds on good salaries and backed by financial assistance from their families.
 
“A lot of parents are dragged here by their kids and have never been here before — they are quite surprised that they are in east London,” adds Robinson.
 
There are few family houses so it is a young buyers’ market.
 
As well as London professionals, Robinson is also seeing overseas buyers helping to stimulate the market by investing in new-build homes along Regent’s Canal.
 

First-time buy: a good-sized (646sq ft) two-bedroom flat in a modern development on Celandine Drive is with Currell (020 3318 7460) for £479,000 

 THE KNOWLEDGE: HAGGERSTON

Past: when the Domesday Book was being written, Haggerston was a tiny, rural hamlet.

 
Future: two of Haggerston’s post-war estates — Haggerston West and Kingsland — are in the throes of a £110 million regeneration, which will include 761 new homes.
 
Trivial pursuit: Edmond Halley, who discovered that comet, was born in Haggerston.
 
What it costs: average property prices stand at £438,977, up 4.69 per cent in the past year. Two-bedroom flats typically rent for £2,015pcm.
 
Landmarks: Haggerston School, designed by Ernö Goldfinger of Trellick Tower fame.
 
Eat: at Draughts café, where customers are encouraged to play board games. There are also cafés alongside Regent’s Canal if you can overcome the embarrassment of patronising an area recently rebranded the “Haggerston Riviera”.
 
Drink: at the Proud Archivist, a quirky bar/restaurant/event space, or at the Haggerston pub, a local institution.
 
Buy: wonderful mid-century furniture at Two Columbia Road.
 
Walk: to London Fields and take a dip in its heated lido.