Here’s the latest instalment in our property hotspots guide, focusing on Stepney.
Stepney is an interesting area, both in terms of housing and the communities it is home to, formed over generations of immigration from Europe and beyond.
It was badly affected during the Blitz, with a third of the housing being destroyed. Whilst much of Stepney was rebuilt after the war, most of the post-war housing is at the end of its useful life and there is now a huge regeneration project at the Ocean Estate. This covers half a mile from the Mile End Road. Over 1,000 homes have been refurbished and another 800 newly built.
The new homes are arranged around traditional roads and have landscaped courtyards. There has also been an extensive tree and shrub planning programme.
Not surprisingly, given its proximity to the centre of the capital, properties don’t come cheap.
Rightmove stats at April 2017 show that a 1-bedrom flat will set you back £404,000, and a 3-bedroom house is £998,000.
On the renting front, for those property types tenants are looking at £1,570 and £2,190 per month respectively.
Queen Mary University of London is based in Mile End Road so there’s a big student population, making it a good bet for buy-to-let landlords.
There is an interesting mix of properties in Stepney, with some well-preserved Georgian houses in the Albert Gardens conservation area.
There are also Victorian houses, a few warehouse conversions and the inevitable new build apartment blocks. There is a Help to Buy scheme for the development of the old St Clements Hospital site in Bow Road, which is to be a mix of converted hospital buildings and new build.
Stepney is in E1, which is in Zone 2, easily commutable (or walkable) to the City and West End. The nearest stations are Stepney Green and Whitechapel. It stretches from Aldgate to Bow, and includes the Whitechapel, Shoreditch and Spitalfields areas.
Stepney’s High Street is dominated by St Dunstan and All Saints church, surrounded by the green churchyard and early Victorian houses. The church is the oldest in the East End.
For the family, there is Stepney City Farm, where you can buy local produce at the farmers’ market and hopefully visit the livestock.
There are little city parks throughout Stepney but the main open space is Mile End Park, a long park running from St Paul’s Way in the south to Roman Road close to Victoria Park in the north.
The Ragged School Museum in Copperfield Road gives visitors the chance to experience life in a 19th-century charity school.
Stepney has an Ofsted ‘outstanding’ school in Sir John Cass’s Foundation and Red Coat School.
Stepney’s state schools are all rated “good” or better by the Ofsted education watchdog.
The local authority is Tower Hamlets, a Labour controlled borough. The Band D council tax for 2017/2018 is £1,246.82.
A few of the at I Am The Agent have lived and loved Stepney, so watch this space!
Copy courtesy of @homesandproperty @wikipedia