It seems a week doesn’t go by without a news story shaming landlords for advertising box rooms in the capital at eye-watering prices.
As if this wasn’t proof enough of a housing crisis in London, new research has confirmed that the capital’s centre is now unaffordable to all but the super-rich.
All three coloured zones in the map above have seen prices double over the last 10 years. Property prices in central London have risen the most by as much as 180 per cent – meaning only the top 1 per cent of earners have deep enough pockets to live there.
Lucian Cook, head of residential research at Savills who conducted the study, told The Telegraph that despite the average price of more than £1.6million, around a fifth of buyers do not need mortgages at all.
Cook added that house prices in traditional and emerging middle-class areas reflect how houses are now heavily mortgaged.
“To borrow 75 per cent of the purchase price in central London on four times earnings,” said Cook, “you would need a household income of £306,000.”
The study also revealed that the middle-classes are moving out of areas such as Kensington and Chelsea to Clapham, Chiswick, Raynes Parks and Kilburn.
Meanwhile, Herne Hill and Kensal Rise have become “nappy valleys” where parents are opting to live.