Housing market’s Gold medal performance in ex-Olympic locations

As the Tokyo Olympics draws to a close this weekend, the Nationwide Building Society has analysed long-term capital appreciation in locations regenerated for the 20212 Games in London.

All six Olympic host boroughs - Newham, Hackney, Waltham Forest, Tower Hamlets, Greenwich and Barking and Dagenham - have enjoyed average house price rises above that of London as a whole.

Waltham Forest recorded the biggest increase, with a 106 per cent uplift in average house prices there since 2012.

Andrew Harvey, senior economist at Nationwide, says: “With the Tokyo Olympic Games now in full swing, we’ve analysed how house prices have fared across the six host boroughs for the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games.

“The London Games saw extensive redevelopment of brownfield sites in and around Stratford to create the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park as well as significant improvements to the transport infrastructure serving the area.

“The top-performing area was Waltham Forest, where average house prices have more than doubled since 2012.

“This compares with a 61 per cent average increase in London over the same period and 49 per cent across the UK overall.

“The southern edge of the borough includes a section of the Olympic Park containing the Lee Valley VeloPark and Lee Valley Hockney and Tennis Centre, but the main residential areas in the borough are Leyton, Walthamstow and Chingford.

“Barking and Dagenham and Newham have also seen significantly stronger growth than the London average, with prices increasing by 86 and 81 per cent respectively.

“Newham was at the centre of the 2012 Games, with Stratford seeing major redevelopment and infrastructure investment.”

– Waltham Forest; price today £487,133; increase since 2012 106 per cent;

– Barking and Dagenham; £308,760; 86 per cent;

– Newham; £389,309; 81 per cent;

– Hackney; £553,032; 66 per cent;

– Greenwich; £400,216; 66 per cent;

– Tower Hamlets; £474,144; 63 per cent;

– London; £497,948; 61 per cent;

– UK; £254,624; 49 per cent.