... Lilian Baylis school, a comprehensive in Kennington, has transformed itself in recent years. Today, it is one of the highest regarded schools in south London, rated “outstanding” by Ofsted, the education regulator. In 2003, when the school was located at nearby Lollard Street and only 6 per cent of its pupils achieved five or more GCSEs graded “C” or above, the then shadow home secretary and local resident Oliver Letwin said he would “go out on the streets and beg” to avoid sending his children there. ...
... “We don’t really do shops here,” says Priscilla Baines, head of Kennington Residents Association. “We do estate agents and coffee bars and that’s about it.” ...
For some, though, that sounds just the ticket. “People are drawn in by the village-y feel of the place,” says Tom Floyd, an estate agent at Winkworth. The appeal is that many families can buy larger Victorian and Georgian homes in Kennington that, north of the river, they might not be able to afford. On Kennington Road, Daniel Cobb is marketing a four-bedroom Georgian terraced house for £1.895m. A similar home in Islington, might be priced a £1m higher. On Pratt Walk, near the Imperial War Museum, Winkworth is selling an 18th-century townhouse with four bedrooms for £1.595m. A two-bedroom apartment on Stannary Street is for sale with Lauristons for £1.25m. ...
Prices have been boosted in recent years by the huge Nine Elms project on the south bank of the Thames, says Robin Chatwin, head of south-west London at Savills. “Call it the Battersea effect, the Apple effect, whatever you want,” he says, referencing the fact that the US tech company is scheduled to locate its new headquarters in the redeveloped power station. “Being so close to all of these huge developments undoubtedly pushed up prices in places like Kennington and Oval.” ...
... Prices may have fallen, says Ian Boardman, an estate agent at Daniel Cobb, but he expects them to remain stable for the foreseeable future, kept afloat by steady demand. There is some evidence the downturn is slowing: the average reduction buyers achieved last year off a home’s initial asking price in Kennington peaked at 9.7 per cent, according to LonRes. In the first half of this year it was 5.8 per cent.
Even if demand is steady, there is a lot of supply in the pipeline. Not only will the Nine Elms development bring about 20,000 or so new homes to the wider area by 2030, but other high-end new housing schemes are taking shape in Kennington itself. ...
... Near Oval station, Berkeley Homes is about to break ground on a development of more than 1,300 apartments called Oval Village. Its tag line is “it’s an Oval thing” but local residents like to point out that, looking at the plans, it is clearly “a rectangular thing”. Apartment prices in Phoenix Court, the only section of the development that has launched, will range from £632,000 for a 562 sq ft apartment to £979,000 for a two-bedroom flat with a balcony overlooking Kennington Lane. ...
... Buying guide
The average price of a house in Kennington last year was £1.427m
Kennington is in the London borough of Lambeth, where the council tax charge for a mid-level (band D) home is £1,445 per year
What you can buy for . . .
£400,000 A one-bedroom flat in an ex-local authority block
£1m A three-bedroom terrace house near Oval tube station
£1.8m A five-bedroom townhouse near Kennington Park ...
