Comment: ‘There’s more to life than a Walthamstow postcode’

The biological clock is old hat. There’s a far more powerful force at play these days, although it exerts itself almost exclusively on coupled-up 30-something (dare I say it mostly heterosexual) Londoners.

What is this mysterious magnetic pull that seems to act on people against their will? The drive to buy a place in Walthamstow.

I first became aware of the phenomenon about a decade ago when a former colleague of mine was desperately house hunting with his partner. They kept getting outbid on unideal two-beds in Walthamstow, for about a year. Eventually they thought to try their luck elsewhere and ended up buying in Highbury, no sweat.

More recently, even as London asking prices are being reduced at a rate not seen since 2011, flipping property (buying a home to do up and sell quickly for profit) is still apparently ‘a thing’ in Walthamstow.

A couple I know recently bought a house from some amateur developers for a third more than they had paid a year ago, while another got gazumped after winning on best and final offers.

So what is it about E17 that exerts such a pull that Rightmove reports house prices up four per cent year on year even as they fall across London as a whole? No shade to Walthamstow, it’s perfectly nice, but it is hardly the only Zone 3 area with a Tube, Victorian housing and a sourdough pizza restaurant.

With an average house price of £560,000, it’s certainly not the cheapest either. Is it just a success of branding? Following the crowd? Safety in numbers?

Not everyone wants to be a property pioneer and there’s a certain if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it logic to the power of the postcode. But if budget or competition are locking you out, rest assured, the alternatives are plentiful, and arguably just as good.