London areas once considered run-down are increasingly becoming part of the prime London property market, it has been suggested.

Estate agency Savills'' predicts that areas such as Tooting, Finchley and Kilburn will become hotspots for those looking for a special property at a lower price than they could find in traditionally stylish boroughs, such as Kensington and Chelsea.

Yolande Barnes, director of research at the firm, told the Times: "The important thing is that they have the potential to have their own distinct character and identity," she explained.

With property prices in Greater London topping £320,847, according to figures from the Halifax, Ms Barnes explained that buyers are opting for areas that they would not have considered in the past.

"We are now more tolerant of 1930s purpose-built apartments – a large part of Bayswater''s housing stock – while the trend for city living has played to the strengths of Covent Garden, Soho and Bloomsbury," she explained.

It comes as new data from Hamptons reveals that some less chic postcodes are seeing prices climb, with research manager Rob Bruce commenting: "Both SW11 [Battersea] and SE1 [South Bank] present excellent investment prospects and demonstrate the value of casting your net just outside prime central London to secure stronger return over the coming months."