Lewisham is the London borough with the biggest increase in house prices over the last year, according to recent Land Registry data.
The borough saw a 10.3% increase in average house price between April 2024 and April 2025, with the average house costing just over £500,000.
This is a change from last April, where the price of a house was predicted to cost you nearly £50,000 less, at £453,000.
Yet despite this, Lewisham house prices still remain below the London average house price of £566,000, as of April 2025.
To combat rising house prices, the borough promotes the government-backed shared ownership scheme which allows first-time buyers to purchase a share of a property.
The aim is to make it more affordable and accessible for people trying to get on the housing ladder.
Housing charity, Crisis, has also offered Lewisham residents support and financial assistance through their Fresh Start Scheme.
The scheme aims to help residents wishing to transfer from council housing in the area to other parts of the country.
In particular, the charity aims to help people on the housing list that are overcrowded or homeless.
Despite this, Lewisham residents still feel discontent with the changes being made to the local area and even at times, priced out of the borough.
Mira, 55, has lived in Lewisham since the 1980s and said she feels that at times Lewisham feels unrecognisable to the borough she once knew.
She said: “It’s upsetting that people feel they don’t have the money to live here anymore, especially when those same people are the ones who shaped so much of what Lewisham was like back in the 80s and 90s.
“The local scene is changing sometimes for the better, but not always.”
According to an analysis by the Trust for London, focusing on gentrification across London, parts of Lewisham can be categorised as having been ‘gentrified’ between 2012 and 2020.
This is as wards such as New Cross and Deptford South housed residents categorised as having the lowest 20% of income levels across London in 2012.
Yet these areas saw a rapid 11% increase in income between 2012 and 2020, which the Trust believes is too large to derive from long-term residents alone.
The 53 neighbourhoods they identified as having undergone gentrification have also seen proportions of residents in social housing drop, a statistic the trust claims could push families relying on this resource into an expensive and ultimately unaffordable private market.
Out of all 32 London boroughs, 69% saw an increase in house prices over the past year, with only 10 showing an average decrease.
As expected, the average house price in London is significantly higher than the average in England, at £566,000 compared to £286,000.
Lewisham Council believe the borough is still an attractive place for anyone wishing to make a home in London and emphasise that the change in house prices has happened over a small time-frame.
A spokesperson for the borough said: “There is no question that London is in the grip of a housing crisis, and many families struggle to find housing they can afford.
“Our Housing Options team works hard to help residents find housing suitable for their needs and financial situation.
“We are currently supporting over 2,600 households in temporary accommodation, but this is a reduction from a high of nearly 3,000 reached last year, so we are optimistic that the crisis is at least not deepening.
“We’re committed to tackling the housing crisis head-on and we are using every tool available to us as a council.
“We’re building council homes ourselves, buying back those lost to Right to Buy with help from the government and the Greater London Authority, as well as making sure new developments deliver for all, securing the maximum possible number of social rent and other affordable homes from developers as we do so.”
Featured image credit: Lawrence Krowdeed, Free to Use under the Unsplash license
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