Thousands of new homes in Croydon are being snapped up almost as quickly as they can be delivered despite the biggest delivery programme for generations.
With cranes filling the skyline, landmark new developments on the Ruskin Square and Morello sites are the tip of the iceberg with around 4,000 residential units currently under construction in the metropolitan centre, including a one-off wave of permitted development sites.
Chancellor George Osborne has given the green light for Croydon to be a Growth Zone, recognising the borough’s importance to London and the south east, speeding up a development programme which will create tens of thousands of jobs as well as the new homes in the town centre.
With Croydon having also been identified as key to meeting the capital’s housebuilding targets by the Greater London Authority – and with provision ranging across tenures from luxury penthouses and private rental sector to affordable rental and shared ownership – the new homes are helping to meet the growing demand created by Croydon’s improved desirability.
Richard Plant, chairman of the Develop Croydon Forum and partner of Stiles Harold Williams, said: “Both Vita, being delivered by Places for People at Ruskin Square and Morello, being delivered by Menta Redrow on the other side of East Croydon station, are selling briskly with well more than half of those put on the market already sold.
“This is continuing on from the success of Berkeley’s Saffron Square scheme and Barratt Homes’ development at New South Quarter which were both fully sold well ahead of completion.
“Good prices have already been achieved at a number of former office buildings such as St Anne’s House, Emerald House, Green Dragon House and Impact House.”
Croydon already led the outer London league table for units under construction last year according to EGi’s London Residential Research, with 1,700 homes being built.
Although an Article 4 direction means Croydon’s remaining office stock is not eligible for further permitted development, the pipeline remains strong and Barratt London has just secured planning permission for a new scheme at St Michael’s Square.
Meanwhile Guildhouse Rosepride have unveiled revised plans for 69 and 39-storey residential-led towers for their consented scheme at One Lansdowne Road, in addition to the permission they have secured at Cairo New Road.
It is all helping Croydon to lead the way in delivering the Greater London Authority’s housebuilding targets.
“We need 50,000 homes a year, every year for the foreseeable future,” Sir Eddie Lister, deputy mayor of London for policy and planning, told the Develop Croydon Conference.
“By 2025 we also need space in the city for another 500,000 jobs. Croydon’s a great place for that because you’ve got the opportunity to build new homes in the centre, you’ve got the opportunity to build commercial property here.
“Croydon can become not just an important contributor to the demands of London but become a major location in its own right in south London.”
And Mr Plant believed Croydon is rising to the challenge with young professionals seeing it as a more cost-effective place to live than the likes of Clapham and Streatham.
“New homes are being built at a rate not seen in Croydon for many years, certainly not since the 1930s,” he added.
Permitted development is a part of that but the likes of Criterion Capital are aiming their schemes, such as the famous Delta Point building, at the private rental sector.
“It means we have a balanced housing market and when people ask if there has been an over-supply, in fact the picture is very different.
“Large numbers of homes may be being built but, comparatively, very few remain for sale. Croydon is maximising its deliverability but without flooding the market.”