Despite getting excited about those plush pads on Hampstead's Billionaire Row, a quick ruffle through the wallet turned up little more than a threepenny bit, a half-eaten custard cream, a ticket to the opening of the Millennium Dome (unused) and the sobering realisation that Londonist is a few trust funds short of a realistic offer on a decent property. However, we're hoping for better luck in less expensive areas, such as those highlighted in a new report on the cheapest streets in London.
Leamington Close, near Romford in Havering, has an average house price of £97,800. It is one of only two streets in the capital where prices remain under £100,000; the other is Willow Tree Walk, off the A222 in Bromley. Bearing in mind that the average house price in London is in excess of £300,000, they seem like a bargain. So what's the catch?
Kirsty Allsop hasn't made it out there yet, but the area around Leamington Close is made up of Fifties red-brick blocks on the Harold Hill estate. It is described sniffily by a spokesperson for Mouseprice, who organised the survey, as having "relatively high unemployment" that attracts "first-time buyers who can afford nothing else".
However, a far more dependable opinion comes courtesy of Eileen Langley-Fogg, 84, a resident in Leamington Close for fifteen years, who extols the area's charms:
We don't have CCTV, we have a communal washing line. You wouldn't get many estates in London where you could hang up your clothes and they wouldn't go missing."
Communal washing lines? We're sold - anything that means we get to avoid the screwface scenes at the local laundrette has to be a good thing.
Image of Romford station courtesy of OwenBlacker's Flickrstream
