We visited Stratford a few days ago to assess the investment prospects. We took lots of photos but my iPad does not allow me to attach photos here. When we got out of the huge Stratford station, we notice the huge transport network there. It has potential to be a major commercial and residential hub. The cross rail will connect Stratford to heathrow airport, moving through central London. Eurostar rail also starts from Stratford.
We then walked east of the station towards Stratford eye. We realized the bulk of the housing were council flats, much like woolwich. A lone modern looking tower stood high at the edge of the council flats area. It's called Stratford eye. We realized it was next to a five-track railway line. We stood around for a while and could hear the sound from the screechings of the trains as they come to a halt. Since this is a major transport hub, all sorts of trains pass by every few minutes. If you live in Stratford eye, you're likely to be non professional. If you are at a high floor you could overlook the ugly tracks below and see the London sky line from afar. But you'll have to keep your windows closed. If you're staying in a low floor, I believe rentals will be very low. Not only will you not have any views, the noise may drive you crazy. There is also a problem of crime. On the secured common door where you need a FOB to get in, a sign says, "look behind you before you open the door". There is no concierge or security so if you go home late at night, you'd have to be very careful you're not being followed.
We then went to the site of Stratford plaza, which we at first felt back in late 2012 was a good bargain at only £400 psf. I believe JLL brought the product to Singapore. It was in a better side of the tube station, the west side. But it was equally close to the track and the noise was just as great! We were vindicated.
We walked around the Westfield mall and it was magnificent and huge. The pedestrian traffic was also very good. Note that this was a Sunday. There was Jamie Oliver's Italian, Gucci , a good mix of upmarket and mass market outlets. I can see why this Westfield is touted as the biggest in Europe. People like to live near the mall so we felt Stratford has potential.
Next we walked around Westfield, which had quite a big circumference. There was a huge site for offices, which we felt was could possibly rival canary wharf as the second largest commercial site. Check.
But from afar we could see large blocks of flats from the Olympic village site which will probably be turned into affordable housing. There will be around 4800 units once ready. Stratford is such a huge site that we believe it will eventually flourish, but at the moment, there will be oversupply of homes. The offices will take around 5-10 years to complete. Meanwhile , the affordable housing will be ready within a year. If you bought a home in Stratford, you will have to compete with shared ownership flats available and your rental could be depressed for the next few years. I draw a parallel with Nusajaya of Iskandar where there is a lot of land for homes and I believe resale value will be weak. Condo's rental demand in Iskandar will be almost non existent.
The other challenge is the high proportion of council flats, affordable housing and shared ownership homes. Will the area regenerate into a middle class area or remain a HDB heart land. Note that in Britain, council flats and affordable housing is not even like HDB. It's like those rental flats in Chinatown.
On the up side, the govt's investment in Stratford is higher than elsewhere. Woolwich, croydon and canary wharf does not even come close. This bodes well fro the future of Stratford in 3-5 years' time.
I will stay away for Stratford for a while. It has great potential but I'd wait a little while to see what the governments would do.
We visited north greenwich and we like what we saw. Will write about it later.
