OUTRAGED locals in one of the UK’s highest earning areas are fuming as young families are forced out to make way for bankers and lawyers.
Residents living in Clapham Common West, London, claim soaring rent prices and rich newcomers are destroying any chance of climbing onto the property ladder.
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They claim the area, in which residents rake in an average of £108,000 a year, is being taken over by bankers and lawyers.
A disgruntled local, Dani, shares a house with four other people to stay within the sought after postcode.
The 26-year-old forks out an eye-watering £726 per month for her room, and spoke to MyLondon about the struggles.
“There’s loads of wealthy people round here, and when I tell people I live in Clapham, I’ve had people literally go, are you rich? And I’m like, no I live in a house share with five people,” she said.
Dani added that she has a friend crashing on her sofa due to the impossible housing situation.
‘YOUNG PEOPLE DON’ STAND A CHANCE’
Meanwhile, another fed-up resident, Paul Taylor, said: “It’s the kids I worry about the most.
“Young people don’t stand a chance, my daughter has grown up all around here, but will never buy.
“It’s just bankers living round here, lawyers, you get a lot of transient folk.But if you walk around, there are empty houses, because people are putting it in the bricks and mortar and leaving it vacant.”
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The former school governor, 40, explained many of the children he used to see “could never” stay in the area.
Now Paul is also set to move as he feels the city has become “stupidly priced”.
Even higher earners in the area are feeling the pinch, such as Nicholas and his partner.
The 32-year-old said despite decent wages, rent is “considerable” and an issue they are “conscious about”.
“We won’t be able to buy here,” he added.
“We’ll have to look further afield. So we’ll look kind of outside of this area and maybe even outside of London.”
This comes as other frustrated locals around London are battling the same housing horrors.
Streatham is now home to a number of famous faces such as rapper Dave, Naomi Campbell, and MasterChef‘s John Torode.
But veteran residents are concerned that some communities are dwindling because gentrification is “forcing residents out”.
Meanwhile, in Walthamstow, East London, “normal people” are now forced to flee as far away as Wales as they see property prices soar by as much as eight percent.
A concerned homeowner claimed to have seen a rise in homelessness, with people sleeping outside the local mall.
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And one local school worker added that she was forced to move out by high prices.
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