... makes me reflect on research that came out several years ago about the young professional classes being attracted to more culturally mixed areas, attracted by their ethnic diversity and vibrancy... A visit to London's Hoxton and Shoreditch over the weekend confirmed this view. The run down streets were full of 20 somethings seeking pleasure and experiences all attracted by the places slightly edgy feel... These areas can often provide landlords with some great letting opportunities as properties tend to be cheaper than in more established areas but rents are strong and there is always the potential for more rapid capital appreciation as a result of gentrification.

Something tells me PropertyHawk's not from 'round here... but if he can find some of those cheap Hoxton or Shoreditch properties, I'm all-ears. (Not literally, obviously.)

Technorati Tags: London, property, real estate

The apartment - two bedrooms in Islington - cost, according to Foxtons, the asking price of £550,000. Tony Blair's spokesperson has issued a denial that the flat was actually bought by mum and dad. He didn't, however, deny that the flat was now owned by Euan. How - asks the Independent - did 24-year-old Euan, who has yet to start his £30,000-a-year graduate-trainee stint at Morgan Stanley, arrange that mortgage? (The Rat and Mouse wants to know why he paid asking price.)

Technorati Tags: celebrity, London, property, real estate

It's on Hemingford Road in Islington, and the vendors have managed to interest the Telegraph's property section, although it already appears to be under offer this morning. The story's interesting... two homes, without a party wall, previously joined at the hip and turned into a nunnery, re-converted by two separate owners, the extension at the back literally sliced in half by the two buyers.

Technorati Tags: London, property, real estate

For the last 40 years, he'd been digging tunnels under his big house in Hackney. Now - at the age of 77 - William "Mole Man" Lyttle has been billed £300,000 to put right damage which left 121, Mortimer Road supported by nothing more than a handful of white goods. He's got 14 days to pay before - presumably - the council takes possessions of a big house, recently held up by a fridge freezer and a washing machine. Ahh, Hackney. Full story, here. Archive, from when he was evicted, here. Weird search result suggesting the property's a Hackney B&B here:

Technorati Tags: London, property, real estate

The Telegraph visits a subject we haven't seen since this back in August, 2005... the shell apartment... the unfinished development waiting for the buyer's own interior design vision. Fred Redwood has found an unfinished development in Hoxton, and he's also found that the shell sale is still for the loaded only. Don't expect a discount.

Technorati Tags: London, property, real estate

Jeez... one moment it's some Government body, next it's the Commies. What's an honest estate agent to do? According to its blog, Class War is planning an afternoon of disruption for Foxtons, Islington on March 3. Furthermore, they're calling on workers to dismantle agents' boards... except only the illegal ones.

[thanks to FP]

Technorati Tags: estate agents, Foxton's, Foxtons, London, property, real estate, real estate agents

It's an amazing place - an old farmhouse, apparently, with three acres - in... wait for it... Highgate. Okay, it's a little kitsch:

In the bathroom downstairs we have a Marilyn Monroe doll that sings " Happy Birthday". Actually I think she looks rather like Princess Diana. They said when they were clearing out her stuff they discovered she had an Erasure CD, which I was touched to hear. I am quite into Fifties movie idols, we also have a black and white screen in the sitting room – Audrey Hepburn on one side and Marilyn Monroe on the other – to suit your mood.

But the house - painted in Frida Kahlo-inspired tones - sounds remarkable. Read it here. More about Erasure here.

Technorati Tags: celebrity, London, property, real estate

In a dramatic development following Anscombe & Ringland, Highgate's claim to have sold £47 million of property in the three months to Christmas - effectively leaving the agency "sold out" - a group of seven rival Highgate estate agencies have come together to dispute the story. In fact, one estate agent - Chris Underhill of Prickett & Ellis Underhill - has even suggested he might remove his hat if Anscombe can back up their claim. Seemingly alarmed by Underhill's threat, Anscombe's Tim Summerley looks as if he's backing down:

"The £47million figure refers to the Hampstead and the Highgate offices combined. I can understand the position of the other agents but the reality is it is Hampstead and Highgate."

The Rat and Mouse will continue to monitor this volatile situation carefully; and we will have a full report, should any head-gear be removed.

Technorati Tags: London, property, real estate

According to the Islington Gazette, Islington Council is planning to sell off £45 million of commercial properties (and, above them, some residential properties) in the Amwell Street area. Amongst them: a 150-year-old chemist (WCK & King) and the Amwell Book Company independent bookshop. Shopkeepers are wisely concerned that a new owner will push them out with massive rate hikes; local residents aren't happy.

Filthy MacNasty's neighbours [November 2, 2006]

Technorati Tags: London, property, real estate

Congratulations to the Highgate branch of Anscombe and Ringland, which sold an astonishing 63 properties totaling £47 million in the three months to Christmas (up from 23 properties and £15 million the previous year). In fact, the branch apparently "sold out", and were left without a single property on their books.

[via This Is London]

Mollie McGuigan writes in the Telegraph about the gentrification of Mildmay... Islington Lite. Interestingly, Mildmay may be closer to Dalston, but the crime figures compare very favourably with Islington's.

[Map courtesy of PrimeMove.com]

It's good to see the Guardian telling the truth about Islington. If you didn't know London, you' d believe - due to stereotype - that everybody who lives in Islington works in politics, law or the media, and is minted, obsessed with house prices and wine, and dresses artfully distressed at the weekends. In fact... that's what I suggest we all call Islingtonia. What's Islington like? Over to the Guardian:

Vicky Walsh is a typical Islington resident... Like more than 13,000 other families she is on Islington council's waiting list to be rehoused. She needs rehousing because she and her partner live with their two seven-month old twin boys in a one-bedroom flat that an estate agent would call compact and everybody else would call small.

The piece goes on to detail Islington's "bid" system for scarce council accommodation, in which points awarded for dependent children and medical conditions. It's a situation the local MP describes as Dickensian. It's an important read, and recommended.

The Telegraph takes a closer look at Amwell Street, and likes what it sees... a village on the edge of Islington with an active and proud residents' association, Victorian and Georgian homes (providing a range of accommodation) and posh shops.

[Map courtesy of PrimeMove]

In Islington, "half the people are very rich and the other half are on benefits, and there's no one in between", says our neighbour, a senior executive at the borough council. He exaggerates, but not by much.

Islington goes under the microscope in Australia's The Age. It's the story of that auction of promises to benefit the school, where one parent paid £5,000 for a private performance by Chris Martin, another (Boris Johnson MP apparently) paid £5,000 for tea at the House of Lords and the honour of blowing a wedge on an elaborate joke, and yet (apparently) some parents couldn't afford the £10 entry fee. The piece (written by a parent at the school) goes on to question the conventional wisdom of diversity and the integrated neighbourhood. "Does mixing do anyone any good?" it asks. The answer isn't clear. Except that the real social divide - according to this parent - isn't racial or religious... it's to do with wealth. And there doesn't appear to be much mixing across the divide. Read it here.

In January, we reported on plans to bring CCTV monitors inside the homes of an estate in Shoreditch. It was an experiment to see if the cable-distributed snoop channel could create a greater sense of community and improve security. Well, it's began - and - according to the Telegraph - locals are finding it addictive. Actually (and I have a theory about this) it would be interesting to learn whether, in the opinion of a psychiatrist, this kind of activity can be literally addictive (see elderly resident pictured below). It certainly sounds creepier than I'd imagined it... cameras pointing down on the entrance of the local pub, residents acting in their own private soap opera...

The Independent basks in the romantic, literary past of north Islington's Canonbury Square neighbourhood - George Orwell (no. 27), Evelyn Waugh (no. 17a, Canonbury Place), Vanessa Bell and Duncan Grant all lived there - before getting down to the nitty gritty of the £1.65 million, five-storey, four-bedroom home currently for sale through Currell, Islington. It's being sold by the Dunns - two ad execs with a penchant for Mid-Century Modern. "Regency homes are very forgiving", says Steve. We wish he'd said, "Regency homes are so forgiving" - but you can't have everything. The kitchen's designed by Don Matheson (now with Richard Rogers) and it sounds special. Elsewhere, the couple seem to have modernised without wrecking period features, and I've such confidence in their taste I'm not even going to allow Rat and Mouse readers to vote on it. Maybe next time. Read the whole story here. See the particulars here.

The local councillor Richard Heseltine is petitioning for a statue of the Prime Minister to be put up in Islington High Street. "He's Islington's most famous son," explains Heseltine. "Next year, he'll have been PM for 10 years, so I think that deserves some sort of record. Besides, everyone round here should be grateful to the Prime Minister for what he's done for property prices in the area, even if he didn't get to reap the rewards himself."

Not all locals agree. "Boris Johnson thinks the idea would encourage graffitism," he adds.

... that was from the Independent. Does Islington deserve a Tony statue? Is graffitism a word? Let us know your thoughts.