A London family home for under £500k?

YES, INDEED THESE FIVE POSTCODES OFFER WHOLE HOUSES AND ATTRACTIVE LOCAL AMENITIES

- RUTH BLOOMFIELD

Demoralised by London's sky-high house prices? Fearful you'll have to move to the back of beyond if you ever want to own a family-sized home? Well according to exclusive new research your concerns are, if not groundless, then certainly not the full story.

There are actually almost 40 London postcodes where a whole actual terraced house can be purchased for £500,000 or less putting them in reach of first-time buyers who now don't get onto the ladder until they are well into their thirties, and pay an average £477,000 for a starter home according to the latest UK House Price Index.

The comparative affordability of the postcodes highlighted by estate agent Hamptons has created outperforming price growth in some unlikely spots. Over five years the winners are Dagenham, east London, and Abbey Wood, southeast London, where prices have jumped 21 per cent to £376,000 and £426,9000 respectively.

Here's our pick of five best options for house hunters on a budget.

FELTHAM, TW13

Average house price: £437,000, up five per cent in the past year and 15 per cent over five years. Trains to Waterloo take from just under half an hour.

A slightly tired suburb in the metaphorical shadow of Heathrow Airport, but one to watch thanks to multi-million-pound regeneration plans to repurpose surplus Ministry of Defence land which were unveiled in September.

This means new homes, shops, cultural and leisure facilities.

Feltham already has a wide choice of restaurants, shops and supermarkets, and open spaces and nature reserves including Feltham Green, a particularly pretty spot with its duck pond and memorial to Freddie Mercury, who was brought up nearby.