Owning your own home

In South Hackney there's a lot of ex-local/flats/social housing alongside your standard London houses - I'd guess maybe 60/40ish but I'm not sure. Anyway, a lot of it got flattened during the war so there are proportionally fewer nice Victorian houses that middle class folk want and yes they are pricey too due to centrality but also low supply (you're right there's much more available further north/out).

If you're renting you can pick up bargains (I know people who have) or rent in flats/ex-local but it's pretty much impossible to afford anywhere you'd actually want to buy unless you've got very deep pockets. The bit north of Victoria Park (what estate agents call 'Victoria Park Village') is especially pricey (you're going to need at least a cool mil for a three bed and or possibly two) and yummy mummy territory. It's obviously nice to have Victoria Park and Well Street Common nearby but you really pay to be near them. I stayed at a friend's house in 'VPV' once for a bit and got clocked by a Guardian journalist who is a friend of a friend when I popped out for lunch. You get the picture.

It's cheaper as you go East towards Wick Road but that's because there's lots and lots of traffic and the A12.

There's lots of good stuff nearby, but the pubs/eateries near the park have never really done it for me personally. The previously resolutely gritty Well Street has developed a pizza restaurant, a 'bottle shop' and a very hip coffee place and The Gun is a pub you'd happily go into now (it didn't used to be). But there's definitely some tension there (Cycle Pitstop was closed by the council due to antisocial behaviour allegations and it's all been very controversial).

I don't know Cambridge Heath so much.