Can we build it? No we can't

London property recap: 1 August 2025

Aug 01, 2025

Do you remember the big London housing boom?

No, me neither. You’d have to be featured in an Evening Standard story as a colourful ancient patron of London’s last jellied eel pie shop to be old enough to remember when street after street was being laid down in the capital.

Sure, there have been a few mega-regenerations. Paddington Basin, Kings Cross, Docklands before that, and Old Oak Common and – um – more Docklands to come.

But mostly it’s been a story of replacing branches of Barclays with odd-shaped two-bedroom apartments, or adding a few more stories above a Tesco in Golder’s Green.

Building starts… stop

It seems things are even worse than usual though, with just 904 new homes registered in London during the past three months.

(Reminder: this is a city of 9m people!)

According to City AM:

London continues to be affected by the new building safety regime for high rise buildings and low building rates from housing associations.
The capital is “by some accounts” the most expensive city in the world to build in, according to the GLA.
Post-Grenfell fire safety regulations have added more loops to an already-loopy system, with any building above seven stories now required to have a second staircase.

Well, I don’t know about that. Making places safe for people to live in doesn’t seem like it should throw a spanner into the works of building a house in 2025.

Nonetheless, a Bloomberg opinion piece [paywalled] describes the situation in the capital as an ‘economic emergency’:

The capital is on track to deliver less than 5% of its annual target of 88,000 homes with half the year gone, by far the worst performance in two decades.
Such a collapse in the UK’s largest and richest city would be a poor omen for economic growth and productivity at the best of times. For this to be occurring under a one-year-old Labour government that arrived in office promising a generational uplift in housing supply is extraordinary.
The figures almost defy belief. Housing starts have fallen by more than 90% compared with the financial year ended in 2023, official data from the Greater London Authority show.
Across two-thirds of the capital’s boroughs, there were zero starts in the second quarter on developments with more than 20 private homes, according to researcher Molior London.

One thing is for sure. Given this seems to be a national issue, I wouldn’t hold your breath on Labour hitting its always-delusional 1.5m new homes target anytime soon.

Sutton happening

Still, you only need to walk about London to see that some new buildings are going up. Hence that especially-low 904 new registrations figure is surely a quirk of timing.

And there are some genuinely dial-moving projects around, such as this site in Sutton that’s set to deliver over 1,000 homes – including affordable ones. (Allegedly.)

Can’t wait or you hate new paint? Then here’s one in Sutton they made earlier – in the 1930s by the looks of it – with four-bedrooms and a lot of living space, even before you go out into the garden.

End-of-terrace, too:

However please note that the only thing I know about Sutton is that it’s not where the Anglo-Saxon burial mound was found.

On the market for £650,000 with Cromwells via Rightmove

The links

Shortcuts for the discerning property fanatic.

News

London’s record rents: tenants pay £700 more a month than five years ago – Standard

Hotel tycoon unveils Heathrow expansion proposal – BBC

London commuter towns revealed as Britain's best places to retire - Standard

A ‘forgotten’ East London river is being revived in a £3m project - Time Out

Four London projects shortlisted for affordable housing design award - Standard

Chinese construction site enclosed in world’s “largest inflatable dome” - Dezeen

More Britons say they can’t afford to have kids - Independent

Mortgages and other money matters

Mortgage rate switches explained – Be Clever With Your Cash

Lender launches rare 85% buy-to-let mortgage. The rate is 6.49% – Landlord Today

How have stamp duty changes affected the property market? – Which

The investing angle

Being an accidental landlord could mean a surprise tax bill when you sell – This Is Money

Influential think tank urges £46 per property fee to fund new landlord database - L.Z.

‘Responsible landlords’ urged to stay in the private rental market – City AM

Find more investing and money insights visit our sister site Monevator

Good bones

The home renovation projects that have become cheaper recently – Standard

Visiting Housestead, an experimental rural home - Wallpaper

100 years of Art Deco - The Observer

Move over Millennial Pink! Here comes Gen Z’s yellow - Living Etc

Soho House’s newly-curated Balearic farmhouse in Ibiza - Design Boom

This converted warehouse in South London is like a New York loft – House & Garden

A peek into the ruthless world of the gravel garden – Country Life

How to disguise a garden shed - Living Etc

Property picks, home…

This one-bed in a CONVERTED VICARAGE (gasp!) on the Islington/Dalston borders is everything a first-time buyer would look for. (Unless they’re looking for a garden. Or a study. Or a non-sploping ceiling). Be careful when a flat is so lovingly interior-designed to within an inch of its fixtures and fittings, though. Ultimately, you’re only getting 592 sq feet of standing room for your £550,000, and it’s a long walk to the tube. That said, plenty of overground trains are nearer. (Perhaps too near?) - KFH

I’ve argued on Monevator that South Kensington could be getting into buy range. Thanks to Brexit and the war on non-doms, prices are back to 2013 levels. That’s 40% lower, inflation-adjusted. Could flats like this just-reduced £1.1m two-bed in Cornwall Gardens prove a steal? True, at 812 sq feet and maybe near the tube tracks it’s still hard not to gulp at the sticker price. Also Foxtons alone has six properties more for sale on this road. Set to go to auction if not sold soon – Foxtons via Rightmove

If Propegator became an unlikely smash hit – with subscriber numbers multiplying by, say, a gazillion-fold – then The Observatory in Fulham is the sort of new HQ I’d hanker after. A cool £2.75m gets you an airy three-bedroom penthouse with lovely beams and a big roof terrace. Although an estate agent once told me that most people hate spiral stairs. Also, Fulham is a bit mid-Sloaney for me. Nevermind, ‘unlikely smash hit’ is currently, ahem, a stretch goal… – The Modern House

You might think, like my mate Sam does, that I’ve been including too many expensive properties in the first few editions of this newsletter. It’s true I’m leaning up-market. That’s because we all like a bit of property porn – and if in reality we must buy an ex-council two-bed in Croydon, we don’t want to read about it an email. But just know that I’m mostly shielding you from the soul-crushing heights of the London property market in order that we can all think we’re getting along okay in life. I mean, what real humans can afford a £21.5m Neo-Georgian-ish townhouse in Knightsbridge? Only earls, oligarchs, and anyone who bought Bitcoin at £200 need apply - Sotherby’s

…and away

Me and my first girlfriend took a day trip to Hastings in the early-1990s. We sat on a felt green hill and she squinted in the sun, and everything was saturated with colour because, truthfully, I can only recall it now from a few old, out-of-focus and over-exposed print photos. We’re no longer in touch, but social media suggests the grunge princess has mellowed into a yummy mum who’d love this £950,000 double-fronted Georgian number in Hastings Old Town. It’s just as photogenic, too – Zoopla

I am a rock, I am an island, as Paul Simon sang and more than one of those ex-gfs lamented. Alas London life is more jam-packed rockpool than isolated crag – all scuttling danger and things gummed up. So who wouldn’t want to move to a remote Scottish island, which you can only reach by helicopter and that hasn’t got so much as a tent for habitation? Well, me on the many days when I’m singing a different song. (Still Crazy After All These Years?) Still, £500,000 for 90 acres in the ocean as opposed to a one-bed in Bethnal Green is some sort of bargain – Savills (more at The Standard)