One hotspot of affordable homes where aspiring home owners are being offered a helping hand by developers is Harlesden in northwest London. Potential buyers will be all too aware of Harlesden's crime-ridden reputation. Their reluctance to risk buying in the area has helped it to maintain its relative affordability: in the past five years, when prices rose on average 67.5 per cent across the country, the value of homes in NW10 increased 40.3 per cent. However, now that first-time buyers are even more battle-scarred by the fight for pricey London homes, such affordability is boosting the appeal of regenerating the area.

Harlesden is easy to reach by train, Tube and bus, has a vibrant high street and a stock of spacious flats in Victorian and Edwardian terraces available at prices consigned to history in other Zone 3 locations. You would need on average a mere £210,300 to buy in Harlesden, according to Hometrack, compared with £371,000 in nearby Kensal Green.

A new development, Hillside Hub, is a an example of this regenration. Flats are priced from just £149,950 for a studio on the open market, or from £280,000 for a two-bed. Properties in the £18 million scheme are arranged in wings that wrap around a zinc-roofed community centre; medical and dental surgeries will also be on site.

Half the 59 flats will be available for shared ownership through Hyde Housing, with a 40 per cent share in a £180,000 one-bed flat costing £816.57 in mortgage, rent and fees a month.

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However, the developer, REAL, is determined that the beneficiaries of these cut-price homes will be local workers, typically employed on the industrial estates and at the hospital in neighbouring Park Royal. To ensure they are not displaced by buyers from better-off areas or investors, all but local advertising has been eschewed. The selling agent, Savills, has been appointed because it has its own respected mortgage broking operation; alternatively, potential owners may be eligible for the REAL Start scheme, in which payment of 20 per cent of the property is deferred for 10 years.

Mark Mitchener, of REAL, says that more private homes are planned as part of the regeneration of the old Stonebridge estate, which other buyers will be free to buy. But, until then, he says: “We hope to assist local people to step on to the ladder before the ripple effect of more income and investment comes into the area and boosts prices. Successful regeneration relies on real people living in real private homes.”

REAL and Hyde hope to replicate the approach at other schemes in Islington, North London, and Carshalton, in Surrey. Until then, first-time buyers trapped as renters in other parts of London will be restricted to wishing that local developers would take a steer from what is happening in Harlesden.

realwebsite.co.uk ;

hyde-housing.co.uk

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