How to live in a dream location

If you want to own a property in the smarter parts of London, you need to look to the long term and methodically work your way up. To demonstrate the art of strategic home-buying, we've taken three areas in which few people could afford to live when they're 20, but which, with a bit of planning, might become a possibility when they're 45.

1 WANT TO GET TO HAMPSTEAD?

START AT STOKE NEWINGTON, N16

Focal point: Stoke Newington Church Street, a quirky and attractive high street with a handsome library, the eerie but characterful Abney Park Cemetery and lots of independently minded shops.

Look the other way: Stoke Newington High Road (the A10) is cheap, shabby, downmarket and traffic-choked.

Stations: Manor House and Finsbury Park Tube stations are at least a 20-minute walk away. Overground station is Stoke Newington (into Liverpool Street).

Parks: Clissold Park.

People: Lots of young couples, many with small children. Perfect for first-time parents who want to stay a little bit hip despite the nippers.

Properties: Lots of little Victorian cottages in roads south of Church Street (Chesholm Road, Oldfield Road, Barbauld Road), with taller, three-storey places in almost-elegant Palatine Avenue (some whole houses, some divided into flats).

Prices: Studio flats £125,000-£155,000, one-bed flats £135,000-£215,000, two-bed flats £155,000-£270,000, three-bed houses £250,000-£415,000, four-bed houses £370,000-£700,000.

Estate agents: Brooks (020-7254 9703, www.brooks-estates.co.uk); Savills (020-7923 8650, www.savills.co.uk).

THEN MOVE ON TO CROUCH END, N8

Focal point: Crouch Hill Broadway, with lots of standard High Street shops in the middle part, and more individual retailers on the extremities.

Look the other way: The hills can be hard work if you're on foot. The rail links aren't good.

Stations: Highgate (Northern Line) is the nearest Tube (a steepish 20-minute walk from the Broadway). Crouch Hill overground goes into King's Cross and Moorgate.

Parks: Highgate Wood and Queen's Wood.

People: Dip into the espresso watering holes along the Broadway and they're full of young mums in black.

Properties: Star turn is Crouch Hill Road, rising up from the Broadway and resplendent with grandly gabled, red-brick family homes; the houses on Shepherds Hill have the look of the Munsters' home and contain large numbers of big flats.

Prices: Studio flats £140-£170,000, one-bed flats £150,000-£250,000, two-bed flats £230,000-£400,000, three-bed houses £400,000-£600,000, four-bed houses £600,000-£1.5m.

Estate agents: Kinleigh Folkard Hayward (020-8348 8181, www.kfh.co.uk); Martyn Gerrard (020-8348 5135, www.martyngerrard.co.uk).

AND FINALLY... HAMPSTEAD

Even if you're thick, people will think you're an intellectual if you live here. However, the cost of fooling them is at least half a million pounds for a small flat, and £1.5m just for a small semi-detached.

2 WANT TO LIVE IN NOTTING HILL?

START AT KENSAL RISE, NW10

Focal point: Chamberlayne Road, a workaday thoroughfare with uninspiring retail outlets.

Look the other way: The featureless Harvist Road, a depressing racetrack.

Stations: Queen's Park and Kensal Green Tube stations or beaten-up Kensal Rise overground.

Parks: Queen's Park; other green spaces are in short supply.

People: Most under-35s see Kensal Rise as a base-camp on their ascent up the property ladder.

Properties: Road after road of Edwardian and Victorian terraced houses.

Prices: Studio flats £135,000-£175,000, one-bed flats £185,000-£225,000, two-bed flats £175,000-£300,000, three-bed houses £300,000-£400,000, four-bed houses £400,000-£700,000.

Estate agents: Harris and Co (020-8969 1333, www.harrisandcompany.co.uk); Wenlock & Taylor (020-8969 0122, www.wenlocktaylor.co.uk)

THEN MOVE ON TO KILBURN, NW6

Focal point: Willesden Lane, Kilburn High Road's smaller and more interesting sister. Also the Tricycle Cinema-Theatre-Café.

Look the other way: Too many 'Everything For A Pound' shops for comfort.

Stations: Two Tubes, Kilburn (Jubilee) and Kilburn Park (Bakerloo), plus Kilburn High Road and Brondesbury stations.

Parks: No leafy spots to speak of, but one large necropolis, Willesden Green Cemetery.

People: Twenty years ago, this was very much an area for itinerant bedsit tenants, but many people now see the increasingly prosperous streets of Kilburn as offering both urban life and suburban quiet.

Properties: Lots of lovely two- and three-storey homes in the conservation area just west of Kilburn High Road.

Prices: Studio flats £150,000-£200,000, one-bed flats £185,000-£220,000, two-bed flats £205,000-£350,000, three-bed flats £275,000-£360,000, three-bed houses £450,000-£550,000, four-bed houses £625,000-£900,000.

Estate agents: Camerons Stiff & Co (020-8459 1133, www.cameronsstiff.co.uk); Westminster Property Services (020-7328 2320, www. westminsterproperty.com).

AND FINALLY... NOTTING HILL

One of the few areas where you can have a six-figure salary and still retain street-cred. Small houses cost anything from £500,000 (wrong side of Westway Flyover) to £2m.

3 WANT TO GET TO CHELSEA?

START AT STREATHAM, SW16

Focal point: Huge, unforgiving Streatham High Road, so wide it's got a central reservation.

Look the other way: The lower half of the High Road (near Streatham Station) has rather low-rent shops.

Stations: No Tubes, but there's a choice of three overground stations: Streatham, Streatham Hill and Streatham Common (into Victoria and London Bridge).

Parks: Streatham Common, but it can feel a bit dodgy at night.

People: There are lots of families taking advantage of the pretty period properties in the so-called "Streatham Village" around Sunnyhill Road.

Properties: Lots of mansion-block flats on top of the High Road shops, and lots of solid Victorian and Edwardian houses.

Prices: Studio flats £90,000-£120,000, one-bed flats £120,000-£190,000, two-bed flats £160,000-£275,000, three-bed houses £220,000-£360,000, four-bed houses £320,000-£1.5m.

Estate agents: Townends (020-8769 9911, www.townends.co.uk); Thompson Vales, 020-8677 6600, www.thompson-vales.co.uk)

THEN MOVE ON TO BATTERSEA, SW11

Focal point: One is the upmarket Northcote Road, the other is the Thames.

Look the other way: Ugly tower blocks besmirch large parts of the skyline.

Stations: Tube-less, but it takes 10 minutes to get from Clapham Junction to Waterloo or Victoria. It also has Queenstown Road and Battersea Park stations.

Parks: Vast, sprawling Battersea Park.

People: They're a determined bunch in Battersea, and they turn their cramped little homes into snug and trendy retreats.

Properties: Row upon row of two-up, two-down Victorian cottages; handsome blocks of mansion flats; brand new apartment blocks lining the riverbanks.

Prices: Studio flats £120,000-£150,000, one-bed flats £140,000-£300,000, two-bed flats £160,000-£600,000, three-bed houses £400,000-£700,000, four-bed houses £450,000-£4m.

Estate agents: Andrew Kent (020-7223 0947, www.findaproperty.com/ andrewkent); Winkworth (020-7228 9265, www.winkworth.co.uk).

AND FINALLY... CHELSEA

Bijou, chic, fashionable - if image is your god, then you're in heaven here. But the price is high: small flats regularly go for £1m, while four-bedroomed houses fetch upwards of £5m.