Zone 3 makes a first class case

Prices across Zone 3 as a whole average around £488,000; that’s around a third cheaper than the £723,000 you’d pay in Zone 2. But price isn’t the only thing driving demand in Zone 3. Exciting new developments, upgraded town centres, vast green spaces, and new businesses, and all with an average travel time of just 29 minutes to get into central London, are truly putting Zone 3 on the map.

And it’s not just buyers; renters are also upping sticks and moving into Zone 3. And who can blame them when you see that the average monthly rent of a two bed apartment in Zone 3 is £1,600 pcm compared with £3,600 pcm in Zone 1 and £2,150 pcm in Zone 2.

The cheapest places to buy in Zone 3 are around Beckton Park and King George V stations, at nearly half the Zone’s average. However, it does take over half an hour to get into the centre of town. If you are looking for better value and a shorter journey you’d do well to  looking east.  

It takes less than 15 minutes to get into the centre of London from Stratford and with an average house price of around £325,000, this becomes our second best place to live in terms of price and travel time.  Also in East London, properties in Plaistow, Upton Park, East Ham and Leyton with travel times of between 12-16 minutes, seem hugely undervalued. Particularly compared with its counterparts in the north and west; Manor House and Archway have a similar travel time, but  are almost double the price.

Our top pick is not in the east though; in Tottenham Hale, prices are 40% below the Zone 3 average and rents are20% below. But with great transport links it is only 14 minutes into central London. This makes this area the most undervalued property market in Zone 3.

To the south east, North Greenwich is 19% cheaper than the average house price in Zone 3. When the average travel time of just over 21 minutes is considered it is completely undervalued, so on our list of best value to time ratio.

Finally, on the Northern line, yummy mummy hotspots of Clapham South and Balham have average house prices nearly in line with Zone 2 prices (at nearly £700,000), suggesting vastly inflated prices. However, when considered alongside the incredibly quick travel time of just over 20 minutes,  both areas are much more fairly valued.  And looking at rents, both areas are (surprisingly) significantly undervalued even though the rental prices are 10% over the Zone average. In contrast Golders Green, and Highgate on the opposite side or the northern line have the same average travel time but a huge average house price of just over £1m, making the south of the northern line more financially desirable.