Investment opportunities London Borders, regeneration of area, cheap!

[Ed_1974]

Hi everyone, I'm new to this online forum but I just wanted to bring to peoples attention an area of huge potential growth with current affordable housing and great links into London. Believe it or not it's actually Swanley in Kent!
OK I'll admit I'm a home owner and I have a lot to gain personally with my property jumping in price when Swanley improves but I am also a property developer with some personal industry knowledge and I've seen this coming for years and right now is the time in my opinion there is definitely something exciting happening here over the next few years. I've been chatting to various people from the council and local agents and someone that works for the company that owns the shops in the town centre etc so my info is based on what I have found out. Here's some key points that why in my opinion I believe Swanley is a great investment.....
- Frequent fast trains Victoria (26 minute journey) and direct links also to London Blackfriars & St Pancras
- Oyster Card extension now confirmed, possible zone 6 extension to include Swanley to be confirmed
- Very cheap current property prices, studio flats from £100k, 1 bed flats £125k, 2 bed £175k, 2 bed houses from £260k, 3 bed houses from £325k
- First of many new build modern flats now nearly complete (right next to the station)
- Lots of key plots have been bought by the council for redevelopment and schemes are currently in place (Swanley and Hextable Masterplan, please read below)
- The owner of the Town Shopping Centre (U+I Group) is completely on board with the councils plans and they are looking to regenerate the shopping centre
- Approx 1 mile from the m25 so getting around London and beyond by car is very easy
- Locality to Bluewater (approx 15 minutes drive away) which is arguably one of the top 5 Shopping centres in the south
- Potential new Leisure Centre planned to be built
- Potential new designated office space for business to be built
There are lots more things I haven't covered, I mentioned earlier about the Swanley and Hextable Masterplan, this is not some made up hype this is real and in place by the council. Please go on the link below and read for yourself. This is the councils website that explains the future plans and confirms Swanley has been earmarked for key investment because of the growth potential and great links into London.

(Being a new member I cannot post outside links but use google to find it or search sevenoaks council website for Swanley)

OK so it's not all great, the shopping centre is extremely outdated with far too many charity or empty shops but this isn't going to be forever. Plus points there is a Costa Coffee, Holland & Barratt, Boots, Superdrug a nice hairdressers etc and more shops along those lines will completely transform the area and if the people come because of the extra properties being built then the businesses will also. I'm under no impression that it's going to turn into the next Hampstead but it is going to improve for sure and the property prices will essentially rise and in my opinion significantly. Where else within the m25 can you get into London Victoria in 26 minutes where the property prices are so low? I think you my struggle to find any. There are also some current eyesores in the area like the working mans club however this is another site now owned by the council and will be redeveloped. Swanley just needs to be put on the map as commuter belt potential for professional families.... my honest opinion the potential is huge
This is just my personal opinion as a resident but all I can say is I'm excited and elated by the councils plans as are all residents I've spoken to, I may have some facts wrong but please don't shoot me down for it, I'm just here to discuss and to make people aware of the growth potential where perhaps they have been priced out of London and are looking for more affordable areas, property developers looking for potential area growth for investment or business owners looking to expand or relocate
Anyway feel free to chip in, good and bad but keep it constructive please

 

[Nicholas Wallwork]

Hi @Ed_1974

Firstly welcome to the forum! What a great first post!

It certainly does sound like it has huge potential. I wouldn't describe those prices as necessarily "cheap" though, only maybe compared to other London boroughs... Further North is obviously considerably cheaper than these prices and even a lot of areas in the South East are cheaper or as cheap. For example Reading has small studios from 100k upwards (although some much higher if right in the center and brand new),Slough is still reasonably priced, Maidenhead etc...

The prices do seem affordable though but all those potentials need to turn into reality and a fair bit of momentum to keep going for it to really take off in the way you hope.

One thing that drives areas up is significant changes and investment in new transport links. New Oyster cards don't really cut it as a sign for major price increases, things like Cross rail do that. But there are lots of smaller elements here which when put together could well mean good sustained growth.

London has to expand outwards with such a growing population so with good existing links like this and inward investment I'm sure it's a sound investment! Just how quickly prices rise will remain to be seen...

 

[Ed_1974]

Thanks Nicholas

I agree I don't think the oyster makes any difference but I think zone 6 will. Getting into London for the price of a standard travel card is a definite positive. As for the links, they have always been there but few people know about them from Swanley. Even some people I know that live in surrounding areas were surprised it's 2 stops and just 25 minutes to Victoria. The links are the big reason the council are investing millions in regeneration. It's the similar sort of thing that happened with East Croydon but on a smaller scale, the link was always there and business and new builds followed and the prices went absolutely crazy.
I've profited on property in the past where an areas links have improved so I appreciate your point and totally agree, those were already nice enough areas though, in my opinion it will work the other way round with Swanley as the investment will turn a pretty run of the mill average area into somewhere much more aspirational and desirable to live
Sorry I didn't mean "cheap" in general, I mean't cheap for inside of the m25 with 25 minute links into a London Mainline station. I don't think there's anything cheaper inside the m25. I don't know how it compares with Reading for links etc but I know that's quite a way outside the m25

I guess time will tell and it won't be overnight but the regeneration investment is fact as what can be read on the Sevenoaks website so I'm quietly confident, fingers crossed it's sooner rather than later

 

[dinosaur]

a few miles from you just the other side of the river in purfleet and chafford hundered are new huge private housing estates that went up 10 years ago and are still being built in aveley with even cheaper prices than swanley.

only trouble is the dartford tunnel / it causes huge traffic jams every weekday / is £5 to cross back and forth /there is the lakeside shopping center / another traffic hotspot / but it is just surburban sprawl with no character or local shops /schools /infrastructure / just big builders making money from small room new builds and flats.

it tends to be young white east enders FTB property .
i dont buy in this area though
but as with you ed i am conservative when buying and only ever buy in the area i know and understand and that way you should not make many mistakes .

 

[nmb]

As house prices continue to rise in central London this is certain to push more and more buyers towards the outskirts of the city. Slowly but surely this spreading of investment in property will move further and further away from central London. This will require significant investment in infrastructure but as some of the less populated areas become more populated this will attract businesses, employment and more opportunities for investors. Will this slow down property price rises in some of the hotspots?