The annual Hot 100 report by CBRE reveals the winners in the London housing market in 2019.

By identifying the Top 10 boroughs in 10 categories, CBRE’s Hot 100 provides a snapshot of the biggest London housing market trends. This year, new categories include rankings for London’s greenest boroughs, alongside traditional property market data. Here is a preview of the most popular categories.

Best-performing boroughs

Source: CBRE Hot 100 2019

CBRE analysed housing market data to create a ranking of the Top 10 best-performing boroughs.

The City of Westminster is the best performing borough in 2019. With an average house price of £971,552, and average monthly rent of £3,325, Westminster appears in the top three for both sets of data, combined with strong rental value growth of 24% over the last five years.

Jennet Siebrits, UK Head of Residential Research, CBRE, said, “London attracts thousands of avid shoppers and tourists each day, and many head straight for Westminster which has the highest number of retail stores of any London borough, at 1,845. This includes globally recognised retail landmarks like Regent Street, Oxford Street and Carnaby Street.

“Best known as the centre of UK politics, Westminster has a diverse built environment, with historic buildings dating back to the eighteenth and nineteenth century alongside contemporary architecture.

“Westminster also leads the Hot 100 ranking of the top boroughs for economic performance. It was the borough with the highest gross domestic product in 2019 (c£68bn), and it is set to maintain its central economic role, with GDP forecast to grow to £76bn by 2024.”

Westminster is followed in the overall ranking of the best performing boroughs by the City of London, Islington, Kensington and Chelsea, and Hammersmith and Fulham. All are central boroughs with comparably high average house prices and rents, and double-digit rental growth over the last five years.

For future house price growth, London’s outer boroughs are the top picks, with Redbridge topping the house price growth forecasts over the next five years (17%), followed by Bexley (14%), Barking and Dagenham (14%), Lewisham (13%), and Barnet (12%).

Highest levels of development

Source: CBRE Hot 100 2019

Development data captured for the study shows which areas of London are undergoing significant levels of change and regeneration.

Tower Hamlets had the highest number of homes currently under construction (3,359) and construction completions (2597) in 2019 and is number one in our overall Development Top 10. Tower Hamlets was closely followed in the number of completed new homes by Newham (2433) and Greenwich (2433).

Mark Collins, UK Residential Chairman at CBRE said: “London’s landscape is constantly evolving, with large regeneration projects transforming entire areas. Our Hot 100 shows that regeneration is an ongoing process, as the some of the boroughs which in 2019 have the highest levels of residential development are those which have benefitted from regeneration over the past 10 or even 20 years.

“As in previous years, boroughs in east London and the outer boroughs lead the development rankings. Tower Hamlets is our top borough for residential development in 2019, which includes the business district of Canary Wharf, which has been bolstered by the introduction of new housing and mixed-use buildings, while second in the ranking Newham has an extensive regeneration zone around Stratford. These areas benefit from not only new homes, but significant investment in infrastructure and placemaking.

“Levels of residential development are broadly similar to last year, but there is still strong demand for new homes across different tenures, including affordable housing, and private rentals.

“A significant proportion of new homes are being purpose built for the growing private rental market. Professionally managed multifamily properties, often referred to as build to rent in the UK, are changing the way people rent in London, offering more quality product and choice for tenants. There are a range of rental brands springing up across London, appealing to different budgets, ages, and lifestyle needs.” 

For more, please explore the Hot 100 here