Weaving a dream from a nightmare

London property recap: 18 July 2025

A friend of mine decided a Jack the Ripper tour was just the ticket to celebrate their birthday this week.

How could I have said no?

Pretty easily! The march of time is terrifying and remorseless enough for me to skip my own milestones. Layering on the dubious thrill of standing in the EXACT SPOT where an unfortunate woman was hacked to pieces 100 years ago doesn’t ice my cake.

Still, it wasn’t my anniversary and each to their own.

One treat was a detour down Princelet Street in Spitalfields.

“Cor, look at those warehouses!” my girlfriend exclaimed, cosplaying a Cockney, when we swapped congested Brick Lane for Princelet Street’s tall and breezy 18th Century delights.

“Actually…” I began, my unfortunately being that sort sometimes, before revealing what little I knew about Huguenot weavers and the business of seeing what you’re doing with a loom using natural daylight. (Saying all this as quick as I could, before the guide got there first!)

Two other tour parties went down the same road while we were there. Not ideal street furniture for me, but if you’re a more sociable sort then your gaff too could be an incidental stop on a Ripper tour if you plonk down £3.5m for this beauty:

It’s Grade II Georgian. Listed, of course. More than 3,000 square feet.

We’ll all love the huge glass atrium at the back. We can all dream.

Though I went home with nightmares.

• On the market with The Bespoke Agent.

The links

Shortcuts for the discerning property fanatic.

News

Landlords warn of higher rents in London as supply dwindles - Standard

Renters could end up £340,000 worse off than owners over 30 years - This Is Money

Inside the wild phenomenon of the Omaze house lotteries 🎲 - Independent

The London property market is ‘impossibly unaffordable’, says think tank - Time Out

More pedestrian plans for London’s West End - BBC

Sales of UK country houses rise as buyers tempted out by lower prices - Guardian

Dubious sales tactics uncovered at two leading estate agents - BBC

Brexit has made garden plants more expensive, leading to a crime wave 👮🏻‍♀️ - Guardian

Homes for sale for summer entertaining, in pictures - Guardian

UK house prices are more affordable than 20 years ago 👀 - This Is Money via MSN

Mortgages and other money matters

The best two-year fix has fallen below 3.7% - This Is Money

First-time buyers on £30k salaries now able to apply for a mortgage - Yahoo

Mortgage brokers on the chopping block as AI overhaul gains pace - City AM

The investing angle

London market is under HMRC microscope, says former inspector - London World

The UK town where landlords are buying up 50% of homes - The Times

Letting agents report significant exit of landlords - The Negotiator

Are you a big-boots developer? Margate seafront land for sale 🌊 - via Rightmove

Find more investing and money insights visit our sister site Monevator

Good bones

How to get the layout of your rooms right - House & Garden

A family home that embraces dementia-friendly design - Guardian

Oasis are back: how to give your home a cool 1990s makeover 🎸 - House Beautiful

103 stylish living room ideas to copy now - House & Garden

Property picks, home…

This apartment in Belsize Park features an elevated sleeping pod with Japanese-style sliding screens. The tiny dimensions might recall Tokyo living too. Yours for £474,000 and a weekend of heavy de-cluttering – The Modern House

This one-bed flat in Putney punches above its £635k weight when it comes to roomy dimensions and a wow factor interior. Its 841-square feet goes a long way thanks to a tiny kitchen and bathroom – and the only corridor being about the size of a photobooth - Inigo

I love this new build in Lewisham. It looks like a 1970s art teacher turned into a three-bed home, in a good way. It was under offer but I guess that fell through and it’s now on for £50k less at £900,000. Right house, wrong borough? - The Modern House

I’m old enough to remember when you only needed £250,000 to bag a house in now-trendy Walthamstow. You’re probably not, which is why this three-bed in Walthamstow Village will cost you £1.1m. And it needs updating 🏠 – Rightmove

Talking of the 1970s, missed your moment as a high-rolling ad man in New York that decade? 😎 The only thing missing from the picture in this moody, masculine £1.125m Bermondsey loft is the cigarette smoke – Urban Spaces

Tim Burton is selling the Thames-side house he shared with Helena Bonham-Carter. £4.5m gets you three private islands thrown into the bargain - Country Life

…and away

Savills has a few apartments left to sell in The Old Schoolhouse development in Glasgow’s West End. This £420k two-bed looks appropriately classy in the photos. But the dimension-less floorplans leave a lot to the imagination – Savills

For the price of a fancy-ish flat in Marylebone you could live in a clifftop mansion on the beautiful Gower Peninsula. The £2.275m asking price also gets you a self-contained two-bed annexe, a freestanding cinema room, and your own private path to the beach - Fine and Country

Out of house

Ronnie Scott’s is holding a free street party this August - Standard