By Liz Rowlinson.
Black Brick on Bloomsbury: London’s Best Value Central Postcode
As American buyers continue to look beyond London’s most obvious prime postcodes, Black Brick’s Tom Kain has been guiding clients through the compelling case for Bloomsbury — one of central London’s most undervalued and intellectually rich neighbourhoods, according to reporting in the Financial Times.
Bloomsbury’s value proposition is striking. Average achieved prices last year stood at £1,137 per square foot — meaningfully below the prime central London average of £1,654 per sq ft, and lower than nearby Fitzrovia (£1,480) and Marylebone (£1,581). Crucially, this also represents a discount to where Bloomsbury itself was trading a decade ago, when average prices topped £1,200 per sq ft between 2015 and 2017.
Kain offered a characteristically straightforward assessment of what the neighbourhood offers. “You don’t really buy in Bloomsbury for capital growth,” he told the FT. “You buy in Bloomsbury because it’s good value for central London.” He illustrated this with a concrete example: Georgian townhouses in Bloomsbury trade at around £1,500 per sq ft compared with £2,000 per sq ft in Marylebone — a 25% premium for crossing into a neighbouring postcode.
The neighbourhood is undergoing meaningful change. A £400 million investment programme led by Bedford Estates, alongside Imperial London Hotels and other partners, is improving public spaces, attracting boutique hotel brands and drawing major office occupiers including GSK and McKinsey. The opening of the Elizabeth Line at Tottenham Court Road has already enhanced connectivity significantly, and office vacancy rates in the area are falling.
For buyers seeking genuinely central London living — walkable to the West End, the British Museum, the Eurostar terminal and major cultural institutions — without the price premium of Mayfair or Marylebone, Bloomsbury represents one of the more interesting opportunities in the current market.
As featured in the Financial Times.
Read the article here.