SW London popular with young professionals, says survey

A survey by Lloyds Banking Group has found that areas of south west London are most attractive for young aspiring urbanites. It found SW19 in Wimbledon to be the most popular postal area for 25 to 44-year-olds.

Lloyds says the typical profile of young professionals is that they tend to be graduates and/or have professional qualifications, are in well paid occupations and like to take full advantage of living in or close to a city, either for work or leisure purposes.

Half of the 20 most popular areas for young urbanite professionals are in London's SW postal district. Apart from Wimbledon the other areas include Fulham, Wandsworth, Battersea, Streatham and Tooting as the most popular areas with young professionals.

18 of the top 20 most desired areas are also in the capital; they include Hampstead, Paddington and Kilburn.

Hove and central Brighton on the Sussex coast are the only areas in the 20 most favoured places by young careerists outside London.

Away from southern England, young professionals are drawn to South Manchester

Didsbury in South Manchester is the biggest hotspot for young professionals outside London and the South East. Other regional hotspots for young professionals include Jesmond in Newcastle, Ecclesall in south west Sheffield and West Bridgford in Nottingham.

Properties in the areas popular with young professionals typically come with a hefty price tag. SW19 in Wimbledon, for example, has an average price of £534,999. The next most popular areas of Fulham (SW6) and Wandsworth (SW18) have average house prices of £936,437 and £585,008 respectively. As a result, young professionals would need to pay on average a premium of £47,000 or 26% to live in one of SW postal areas, compared with London as a whole.

In many of the areas most fashionable with young professionals the smaller types of properties such as flats are the most popular. For example, flats account for three quarters (75%) of all properties in Hove (BN3 postal area) and over 80% in Clifton in Bristol.

Terraced houses account for the majority of property sales in central Cardiff (81%), and Cambridge (59%).

Detached properties account for a much smaller proportion of homes purchased in the most popular areas for young professionals, most probably reflecting their higher price. Close to areas of central Cambridge they account for one in five sales (20%). But, in other cities this proportion is significantly lower; the next highest is in West Bridgford in Nottingham (11%).

Marc Page, Lloyds Bank mortgages director, said: "Young professionals make up a decent proportion of the capital's workforce and where they choose to live has a bearing on the local housing market. Our analysis suggests SW19 Wimbledon is the leading hot spot for young aspiring urbanites.

"Outside London the areas most popular with this segment of the population also tend to fit the profile. In the majority of cases, young buyers have to pay a significant premium for a property to live in these areas compared with living in other parts of the city."