It turns out the location of craft breweries can predict London’s next house price hotspot
Craft beer may be a hipster phenomenon, but it's worth paying attention to – if only for the fact it may be able to predict where the capital's next area of house price growth may be.
A study by EasyProperty has found prices in the areas around London's 50 "boutique" breweries have bucked the post-Brexit trend and increased up to 105 per cent in the past five years.
Read more: Has craft beer lost its flavour to globalisation?
Prices in trendy Walthamstow, which counts Left Bank and Wild Card among its local breweries, have increased 105 per cent to an average of £478,636.
In Lea Valley, home to the East London Brewing Company and Signature Brews, prices have risen 94 per cent to £456,046.
EasyProperty chief executive Rob Ellice suggested areas where breweries have popped up are "primed" for gentrification.
"These neighbourhoods are generally within Zones 3 and 4 with a few on the outskirts of Zone 2. The breweries are within light industrial areas or disused railway arches where land is relatively cheap," he said.
"The biggest threat these breweries face is indeed from house builders who are searching for available sites with affordable land values – such has been the case with the Rams/Youngs Factory in Wandsworth."
“However, it’s the Generation Z who are attracted to these neighbourhoods not only because of the affordable price tags in the area, but because they offer the cachet of a bohemian, emerging community that provides genuinely local trade – from beers to coffee shops, independent retail outlets and restaurants.
"They allow the new inhabitants to give the neighbourhood its own identity, which in itself becomes its own selling point.”