* Riverside districts on the south bank of the Thames, such as Nine Elms and Vauxhall, are set to jump in price during the next five years

* More people are moving south of the Thames as buyers are realising they can get property twice as big for half the price.

* Up to 60 per cent of the capital’s new homes in the next decade are planned in inner-London boroughs, including Islington, Southwark, Lambeth, Wandsworth, Hammersmith, Fulham, Camden and Hackney.

Zone 2, ringing central London’s most expensive neighbourhoods, is the area of choice this autumn for smart home buyers searching for space and good value.

Developers are stepping up to build more homes in Zone 2 areas — finding that they can build bigger and sell to a market likely to thrive in the next five years. Leading estate agents also predict these so-called “non-prime” areas will see the biggest price gains.

“Even some wealthy buyers cannot afford to live in the best central locations,” says Andrew Palmer of property consultant DTZ. “This has triggered a hunt for cheaper addresses that are still close in.”

Holborn and Aldgate are changing fast as they return to residential, and have still to reach their full potential for prime inner London. Buyers are also looking with fresh eyes at Bloomsbury and Barnsbury, and family-friendly neighbourhoods such as Primrose Hill, Wandsworth and Fulham, where smart riverside developments are under way.

Increased stamp duty thresholds are having an impact, too. Buyers want to avoid the higher rate payable on homes priced above £1 million (five per cent) and £2 million (seven per cent). Often this boils down to buying a home with a value of no more than £1,000 a square foot, a price point that has spread to reach Hammersmith in the west, Lambeth to the south, Swiss Cottage in the north and Shoreditch in east London.

“Second-tier areas often have a greater variety of property and a more village-like feel, which makes them a prime opportunity even if they are not ‘prime’ areas,” says Nicholas Finn, director of Garrington Property Finders.

Good-quality homes in fringe areas
The property experts are beginning to think that the top-tier areas, such as Knightsbridge and Mayfair, have peaked in value and that a “catching-up” process is kicking in as developers deliver better homes in fringe areas.

This is borne out by the latest Land Registry data showing some Zone 2 boroughs registered double-digit price rises over the last year, ahead of Kensington and Chelsea.

Moving to the other side of the river
Cross-river moves, once uncommon, are another market trend, according to Winkworth, which has 60 branches across London. The main flows are from north and west London to south London, where family houses are significantly cheaper and new London Overground stations are helping to revitalise areas such as Brockley, Dulwich and Crystal Palace.

Buyers are realising they can get a property twice as big for half the price and still get to work quickly. One hot address is Telegraph Hill, SE14, where large Victorian houses priced up to £1.3 million are attracting City people, doctors and lawyers from other parts of London. The commute to London Bridge is six minutes. Houses with the same floorspace in, say, Pimlico would cost £3.5 million-plus.

Research by property data company Lonres shows square-foot values in south London average £650. This compares with £956 in north London and £1,075 in west London. New developments are of varying quality and scale, and many are under construction, meaning buyers have to beware and do their homework.

For family buyers, the good news is that planners are keen to encourage more and better new-build houses. Five years ago, 95 per cent of all new homes in the capital were apartments whereas by 2015 about 30 per cent of new homes will be houses.

“Well-designed townhouses do not have to cost a fortune and boost areas by attracting families, who demand better schools, libraries, parks and neighbourhood shops,” according to Sean Ellis, managing director of St James, soon to launch 13 four-bedroom houses at Hurlingham Gate, Fulham. Coming later are 68 apartments. .

The inner-London boroughs with the most new homes
In the spotlight are Islington, Southwark, Lambeth, Wandsworth, Hammersmith, Fulham, Camden and Hackney. Up to 60 per cent of the 278,000 new homes planned for London during the next decade will be built in inner-London boroughs.

New riverside homes by the Thames
Riverside districts on the south bank of the Thames are set to jump in price during the next five years, says Knight Frank. “Nine Elms to Vauxhall will change out of all recognition, while the extension of Tate Modern, due for completion next year, will see Bankside values rising even higher.”

South Bank Tower is a refurbishment of an office skyscraper in Stamford Street bringing 173 private homes. Prices from £625,000. Directly opposite on the north side of the river is Holborn, which takes in the former newspaper district around Fleet Street and the historic Inns of Court, and borders Georgian Bloomsbury.

Global law firms have moved in recently, sparking demand for local main homes, and crash pads for high-earning career professionals. There are niche developments of boutique flats, in keeping with the area’s individuality, but bigger projects are under way.

A slab of nondescript office blocks by Temple station has been bulldozed to make way for a courtyard complex of 206 apartments.

St Dunstan’s Court, an outdated office building on Fetter Lane, is being redeveloped by Taylor Wimpey into 76 apartments. Prices from £790,000.

Fulham’s future
Fulham is described as “affordably prime” by Jo Eccles of Sourcing Property. Family houses sell for approximately £1.5 million to £3 million, the same as a prestige apartment in one of Chelsea’s best roads. Waterfront regeneration is bringing cafés, bars, boutiques and galleries to former industrial zones. Fulham Riverside, between leafy, polo-playing Hurlingham Park and sought-after Peterborough Estate, replaces a supermarket depot.

The 8.25-acre development will have 463 homes either side of a central piazza and boulevard leading to the river. Prices from £525,000.

Developer London Square is aiming to capture SW3 emigrés at Farm Lane townhouses. The two-acre site, once a base for horses and Hackney carriages, is set to become a traffic-free retreat with 40 homes. Residents will have use of an underground private garage with direct access to the house. Construction is under way.

* The latest riverside district to be revitalised is a nine acre site between Greenwich town centre and Greenwich Peninsula.

* New schemes will include 770 homes at Enderby Wharf, a series of apartment blocks at River Gardens (formerly Lovell’s Wharf), 980 homes at New Capital Quay and 247 homes alongisde a 38,000sq ft gallery at Paynes & Borthwick Wharf.

* Greenwich town centre and the medieval market square is being revamped and prized Georgian buildings are being refurbished.

Lessons have been learned from the recent “underwhelming” regeneration of stretches of the Thames. The latest plans for new waterfront districts are altogether more ambitious and imaginative. They are bringing back to life “lost” riverbanks, not just by building new homes, but new communities that include cultural centres and improved transport links.

The waterfront should be a destination for Londoners to enjoy, so today’s planners want to avoid the previous sterile gated enclaves created for rich buyers that were set apart from surrounding neighbourhoods.

Neglected Greenwich strip revitalised
The latest district to be launched will be the nine acre site that forms part of the neglected strip of riverbank between Greenwich town centre and Greenwich Peninsula, where the 02 Arena sits.

For years the so-called “Thames path” has been inaccessible there, blocked by depots and disused wharves. But Greenwich, with its maritime past, will have a new chapter in its history when work starts next month at Enderby Wharf, where 770 homes will be built alongside the capital’s first cruise line terminal, along with a hotel, shops and rivertaxi pier.

An adjacent showpiece scheme is River Gardens, formerly Lovell’s Wharf, occupying a dramatic bend of the river. The bright green laser marking the meridian from the Royal Observatory cuts through the 12-acre site, which was snapped up several years ago by reclusive billionaires Richard and Ian Livingstone, whose trophy assets include Strand Palace Hotel and Cliveden House in Berkshire.

The brothers appointed renowned architect firm Squire and Partners, which has designed a series of apartment blocks built at a right angle to the river and separated by waterside squares and gardens (described as “breather spaces”), tennis courts and a landscaped promenade.

It is an inspired design, resulting in no obvious front or rear side to the development and allowing open views from all the apartments.

Inside too, the emphasis is on space and natural light. Bigger-than- average flats have floor-to-ceiling windows and some apartments have two balconies to maximise the sweeping views. Italian kitchens and bathrooms are a grade above the norm. Apartments are also pre-cabled and have reinforced walls for plasma televisions. Storage cages are for rent in the underground car park.

Eventually there will be more than 600 homes in eight buildings, plus restaurants, crèche and supermarket. Prices start at £300,000. Double-height penthouses are coming later.

Enderby Wharf was first developed in the 18th-century by a whaling company and was later used to manufacture the first transatlantic telecommunications cables and a cross-Channel petrol pipeline to support the D-Day invasion.

Barratt is building the residential element, while the cruise liner terminal is being developed by Morgan Stanley Real Estate and West Properties. Cruise ships docking in the heart of Greenwich will be a game changer, allowing up to 3,000 people on board to visit all the local attractions, a huge commercial boost.

Greenwich town centre revamp
With its post-Olympic glow and recently-conferred Royal Borough status, the old naval town is sailing forward at full speed.

Already a Unesco World Heritage Site — because it is the “finest and most dramatically sited architectural and landscape assembly in the British Isles” — the town centre is getting a facelift too. The medieval market square is being upgraded and prized Georgian buildings refurbished in a Marylebone-type makeover that aims to spruce up Greenwich’s retail and residential draw.

New Capital Quay, a “waterside village” of 980 homes being built in a former dock basin moments from Cutty Sark, has a central boulevard and plaza that has created a new vista of the Thames. A curving 14-storey tower has duplex penthouses with glazed winter gardens and the complex will have an art gallery, museum, crèche, design studios, bars and restaurants. Prices from £340,000.

Joined up thinking by planners has resulted in a new pedestrian bridge across the dock which links a broken riverside path. This has helped open up a closed zone where a major new cultural venue is to be unveiled next month. The 38,000sq ft gallery is part of Paynes & Borthwick Wharf, a prized Victorian edifice built in 1860 for the manufacture of marine boilers which were loaded on to ships through magnificent Italianate arches. The restored wharf will house the gallery plus exhibition, commercial and retail space, while glass-walled penthouses are being built on top.

Interactive art
Futurecity, a cultural regeneration agency that works with developers to deliver art projects, says the gallery will focus on “digital art and interactive experiences”. In total, the scheme has 247 homes. Prices start at £250,000.

A masterplan for floating villages
Elsewhere along the Thames, water-based projects seek to use the river for housing and leisure and promote the river as a transport artery.

One idea is for “floating villages of modern, eco-friendly houses”, where residents have security of tenure and own the property and the water below them on 50-year leases. These permanent villages are a far cry from the makeshift, bohemian houseboat communities that have sprung up along London’s canals and rivers. They would be linked by pedestrian and cycle bridges to parks and islands, transport interchanges, leisure and cultural attractions.

Royal Docks, which has more waterfront than Venice, is the most likely area for these new communities, according to London mayor Boris Johnson.

Mayor Boris Johnson has welcomed news that ABP, the Chinese developer transforming the Royal Albert Dock into a hub for Asian businesses, is to move its HQ to the capital.

In May the firm signed a £1bn contract with City Hall to create London’s third major business district which will service Asian and Chinese businesses seeking to do business with the UK and Europe.

The development will include more than 2.5 million square feet of office space, plus retail and leisure facilities and is expected to be ready for its first tenants in 2017.

Speaking at a London-Asia business forum at City Hall today, ABP Chairman Mr Xu Weiping announced the firm is bringing its own HQ to London, a move he said would help “grow the company globally”.

Mr Xu said: “London presents many fantastic opportunities and I believe this is just the beginning of an exciting period of investment and regeneration in the area.”

“We have many leading businesses from Asia here today and I will introduce the Mayor to many more when we welcome him to Beijing later next month.”

Welcoming news of the move, Mayor Johnson said: “It’s fantastic to see ABP voting with their feet and choosing to bring their global headquarters to London.

“A fantastic place to live and work, in the right time-zone to trade between east and west, with a highly skilled workforce and a concentration of first class business expertise, London has an enormous amount to offer businesses and brands from all over the world.”

The Mayor will next month lead a delegation of London firms to China as part of City Hall’s ongoing efforts to attract new investment to the capital and help London businesses increase their sales to overseas markets.

We are pleased to announce that Property Inside London is now able to advertise clients’ properties on Sina. Sina is viewed as the most popular and most respected internet brand among the Chinese community in mainland china. It is the largest simplified Chinese web portal, with more than 600 million registered users and 1.2 billion pages viewed daily.

Property Inside London has partnered so that it is able to advertise properties on the newly launched UK property portal. This portal was officially launched on the 1 July 2013 with the mission of creating the best UK property portal for the mainland Chinese people and Chinese communities around the world.

This addition to Property Inside London’s marketing strategy will help attract investors from China. It is a welcome addition to the marketing it can do for clients in England, the Middle East and to its existing database of investors.

If you are interested in appointing Property Inside London to sell your property, please contact Christian@propertyinsidelondon.com

We are delighted to announce that we have started offering our clients the opportunity to invest in properties below their market values.

These properties often have the benefit of coming with tenants renting under assured shorthold agreements and therefore providing immediate income. Many are also in London.

We are careful in selecting which opportunities we present to our clients. We also take great care in selecting the parties that we use to source opportunities to ensure that they have appropriate access to the vendors and are presenting reliable information.

The discounts range from 10% to over 40% depending on location, condition and the reason for the vendor looking to sell. By working with our clients we have been able to offer the vendors a speedy sales process in exchange for the discount.

If you are interested in looking at below market opportunities please contact us (Christian@propertyinsidelondon.com) informing us of your requirements.

We are delighted to announce that we have been appointed to help sell a range of off-plan apartments in London’s leading developments. Most of these are the sale of the contracts to buy the properties rather than direct from the developers.

For more information please contact the Property Inside London team at christian@propertyinsidelondon.com

The developments include:

The ArtHouse

–       The first private residential development in the regeneration of Kings Cross. The development is on the edge of Regent’s Canal, surrounded by shops, museums and cultural buildings and perform for transport

–       Due to complete October/ November 2013

–       Both a one bed apartment and a three bed apartment

–       One bed: 522 sq ft with car park priced space at £535,000

–       Three bed: 1,107 sq ft with car park space at £1,175,000

The Arc

–       A  development set around a landscaped central courtyard just moments from fashionable Bermondsey Street, Shad Thames with its popular riverside cafes, bars and restaurants and Bermondsey/London Bridge underground stations

–       Due to complete Q1 2015

–       One and two bedroom apartments priced between £495,000 and £805,000

Avant Garde

–       A sleek 25 storey aluminium and glass landmark tower with views across the City, a private residents gym and 24hr concierge and conveniently located at the edge of the City and at the heart of fashionable and artistic Shoreditch.

–       Due to complete Q4 2013

–       A range of studio units, 409-451 sq ft priced at £410,000- £435,000

–       A two bed unit, 728 sq ft

Carlton Place, NW6

–       A magnificently restored period building on the Maida Vale borders in a peaceful residential area but providing good access to Queen’s Park station and the local bars, cafes, restaurants and shops

–       Due to complete in September 2014

–       Two bedroom apartments, 580 sq ft priced at £370,000- £385,000

Cleveland Street, W1

–       Remaining apartments in a development of four apartments

–       Located near to Regents Park

–       Due for completion in January 2014

–       Range from 2 bedrooms to a 3/ 4 bedroom, 655 sq ft to 1,989 sq ft and £1.15m to £2.75m

Lexicon, City Road

–       A new development close to the City, Shoreditch and London’s Tech City

–       Due for completion in Q4 2014

–       A range of 1-3 bedroom apartments priced from £585,000

Maddox St

–       The last remaining apartment in this Mayfair development of seven apartments

–       One bed apartment, 589 sq ft priced at £1.3m

Mulberry Mews, Islington N5

–       A development in one of London’s best areas with a vast range of bars, restaurants, parks and cultural activities

–       Due to complete in Q4 2013/ Q1 2014

–       Two bedroom apartment, 726 sq ft priced at £615,000

Oxford Place, W1

–       Two remaining apartments in this development of seven apartments

–       Located in W1 convenient for Oxford Circus tube station, the University of Westminster, UCL and LSE

–       Priced at £2.96m & £1.95m

Putney Square

–       A new development in Putney, with its easy access to the River Thames and range of restaurants and shops

–       Due to complete in June 2011

–       Two bedroom, 746 sq ft priced at £620,000

Regent Canalside

–       A development in the heart of Camden with its mix of culture, food, fashion and music

–       Due to complete in Q4 2013

–       One and two bedroom apartments, 504- 870 sq ft, £500,000- £950,000

Riverlight

–       A development on the River Thames in the UK’s largest regeneration project which is located in Battersea

–       Two bedroom apartment, 856 sq ft priced at £1,249,999

Wapping Lane

–       A landmark building offering views across the River Thames and across the City and Canary Wharf, with the City within walking distance

–       Due to complete in Q1/ Q2 2014

–       A studio, 355 sq ft priced at £295,000

One Lambs Passage, EC1

–       A high quality development in the City

–       Two units available

–       Priced at £895,000 and £920,000

The drama of a new £12  billion north-to-south train link across London gets a step closer this week as public consultation over “Crossrail II” ends on Friday.

Backed by Mayor Boris Johnson, Transport for London (TfL) wants to build the line between Alexandra Palace in the north-east and Wimbledon in the south-west, passing through Islington, Piccadilly, Chelsea and Clapham. The entire journey would take just over 30 minutes.

A more ambitious option would see the line extended beyond the M25 into Hertfordshire and Surrey.

The Government has shown cautious approval for the scheme — which would boost demand for homes along the route — by committing £2  million to a feasibility study.

And consultation into the plan, which should ease congestion on the Victoria, Northern and Piccadilly Lines, has received broad support from local groups – although the proposal has sparked numerous extra demands.

Surrey County Council is demanding the line is extended to Shepperton, Epsom, Hampton Court and Chessington, in order to relieve desperately overcrowded commuter trains into London. Haringey Council is pressing for an extra station stop at Tottenham.

The plans for Crossrail 2 include a stop at Angel Station but Islington Council is backing a second local station, at Essex Road, currently served by overground services to the City. If approved the plan would give residents a direct link to the West End for the first time.

A report on the proposal will be presented to the mayor later this year, but due to the complexity of the project TfL says it is unlikely to agree a route until 2016.

New and improved train services can have a dramatic impact on local property prices. Crossrail 1, the east to west rail link due to open in 2018 will, it has been predicted, hike property prices around its stations in London.

Jones Lang LaSalle, the investment management firm, recently forecast property growth of up to 19 per cent (over and above general London growth) in new homes around Crossrail stations over the next five years.

As things stand, the Crossrail 2 proposals could have a similar impact on areas such as Alexandra Palace, Turnpike Lane, Seven Sisters and Tooting.