Enfield — Summer 2021

As a leafy Outer Borough, Enfield has long been a destination for upsizing Inner Londoners seeking out more home for their money. With many deciding whether to follow the A10 out of the capital altogether, Enfield offers them the best of both worlds; direct links into London coupled with leafy suburban streets. Its northern fringes stretch out to the M25 and offer a taste of country life within the confines of the capital. While to the south, Enfield borders some of London’s newest up and coming neighbourhoods.

Enfield has long benefitted from Inner London buyers looking for more space, a trend that has been supercharged over the course of the pandemic. Just over 60% of buyers come from outside the Borough, the vast majority from more central locations in Zone two and three such as the neighbouring boroughs of Haringey and Barnet, or further afield from Hackney and Islington.

The strength of the local market means sellers in Enfield have been able to achieve an average of 97.7% of their initial asking price so far this year, a larger proportion than at any time since 2016. It's a similar story across the rest of London too, where despite much talk of migration out to the country, London sellers are achieving more of their asking price than at any time in the last five years.

With fewer homes on the market than a year ago, it takes an average of 50 days to sell a home in Enfield, less time than in 2019 or 2020. Time to sell here has been running faster than the London average for the last three years. Although London remains the slowest region in the country to sell a home so far this year.

House prices in Enfield have risen to an all time high this year, alongside 20 other predominantly Outer London Boroughs. With prices in most Inner London Boroughs below 2017 levels, the pricing gap between Inner and Outer London has narrowed, falling from 50% in 2014 to just 31% by the middle of 2021. This is a figure which is closing as months go by. As a result, the buying power of those using Inner London equity to fund a purchase in Outer London has been steadily eroded over the last six years.

Rental outlook

Rents in Enfield rose 3.7% over the last year, inline with growth across much of Outer London. Rental growth here has been focussed on larger homes with gardens as tenants increasingly split their time between working from home and travelling into Zone One. Conversely, rents on smaller flats, particularly those without access to outside space, have remained much closer to where they were on the eve of the pandemic.

Like buyers, tenants tend to come from across North London. Typically they were previously living slightly more centrally while paying a similar amount of rent for a smaller home. Many are in their mid to late thirties, more often than not hunting out space for a growing family.

Inner London is the only region of the country where rents are falling, although there are some signs this trend may be starting to reverse. Inner London rents stand 16% below where they were at the same time last year. While in Outer London, rents have continued to grow post lockdown, up 9.4% year-on-year. They now sit 10% above where they were at the start of the pandemic, with no sign of a slowdown. This means the gap between rents in Inner and Outer London has closed to the smallest level than at any time over the last decade.