London regeneration: The east comes alive - Telegraph

London regeneration: The east comes alive - Telegraph

Is the East End turning into the new West End? As central London prices have continued to soar, so sharp-eyed investors, creatives and young buyers have been heading east into some of the poorest parts of the capital. Like gold prospectors, they are sifting through the remains of the great industrial and shipping past, between council tower blocks and dock basins, to buy into plush new executive flats that are sprouting in spite of the recession. If you are looking for affordability, the only way is east.

“We now have an incredibly diverse cross-section of people buying,” says Matthew Leitz of Savills’s Docklands team. “Around Canary Wharf and the Isle of Dogs we have people in financial services and banking, and a lot of internationals. All the creatives are being displaced from Islington into Hackney, Victoria Park and Dalston. Then, as people can’t afford the inner East End, they look to places like Greenwich, Deptford and Lewisham.” A huge amount of development is in the pipeline as well.