What you need to know about Hackney
If someone had told ten years ago that Hackney is one of the best places to live in London, you may have raised an eyebrow. From a reputation as one of the worst places to live, this borough has undergone a transformation that saw Hackney feature in the Sunday Times Best Places to live in Britain guide. Benefiting from the London 2012 Olympic Games, which resulted in innumerable upgrades in the region, Hackney offers a number of new schools, great transport connections and all the sport facilities anyone could wish for including the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park. Hackney also has amazing parks, pubs, restaurants and a rather special cool atmosphere that turned this area into a desirable place to live.
There are 58 parks and green spaces in Hackney, including London Fields, Shoreditch Park and Victoria Park, one of London’s most visited green areas and the first public park to be built in London specifically for the people. The boot-shaped park is located between South Hackney and Old Ford road, but the majority of its area is in the borough of Tower Hamlets.
If you crave the feeling of being in the countryside, you will want to explore Hackney City Farm, an amazing place that gives you the opportunity to experience farming right in the heart of East London. It doesn’t matter what your passion is; in this borough you will definitely find something to fall in love with.
This region has excellent transport links to the city centre, with many bus routes and overground stations that connect you to the Central line in a few minutes. The air pollution in Hackney is considered low with many parts of it enjoying excellent air quality. The borough is in the Ultra Low Emission Zone (ULEZ). The crime rate in this location is reasonably higher than the average in London.
There are approximately 265 primary schools and 108 secondary schools in the region, of which 84 are rated as outstanding by Ofsted. Homerton University Hospital and St Leonard’s Hospital are some of the main hospitals in the area.
Shoreditch, Hackney and Dalston are the most common places in which people look to rent a flat in the London Borough of Hackney, while Kingsland, Stoke Newington and Clapton are some of the most desirable locations for buyers. The average private rent is £1,712, according to the 2018/19 Private Rental Market summary statistics, and the average house price is £564,446, according to the 2019 House Price Index. Houses in Hackney are 11.46% owned outright, 17.22% owned with a mortgage or loan, 30.57% private rent and 40.75% are social housing, according to the Office of National Statistics. With a population of 279,665 and 2.54 people per dwelling, the region has seen a growth in housing stock of 13.1% from 2008 to 2018, with 45,530 affordable homes. If you would like to rent a house in Hackney, it is estimated that you will need a total annual income of £36,750, according to the rent affordability formula.
