A "sickening" online video for a £47m Deptford development has provoked a furious response for portraying much-needed new homes as investments rather than places for people to actually live.

Flats at Cathedral Group's shiny new Deptford Rise project are being priced from £470,000 while a property investment company - IP Global - is listing the homes in US dollars online and is praised in the video for its understanding of the Asian market - where many of the flats have already been advertised.

The scheme is the latest in a string of major housing developments - including Kidbrooke Village and Eltham's Grove Place - being marketed to foreign investors in places like Hong Kong, who often let the properties out or even leave them vacant before flogging them off at a hefty profit.

In an online video by both companies, IP Global chief exec Tim Murphy says: "When you're investing in property, you don't want trendy stores, you don't want Starbucks everywhere because, once that's there, the prices are already gone."

He also hypes up the proximity to the rail station and London Bridge, appearing to imply residents don't even need to spend any time in Deptford, because there's an Oyster reader at the bottom of the block. And he tells them: "The artists are here, its got that real vibe about it and people that buy real estate, they know about property, that's when you get in."

Along with the architecture and plans for a new market, Cathedral director Martyn Evans tells viewers Deptford offers "unrivalled investment opportunities" and says the homes are primarily aimed "at young urban professionals, high earning individuals who probably work in the city of London."

The video was hastily pulled from one website after an angry online response, with Deptford artist Maria Livings writing: "The idea that this project is being sold to investors and that the coolness of artists is being touted as the reason why property prices are about to hurtle still further up is completely sickening. 

"None of the interesting, creative people who have contributed to the vibrant culture of the area are able to afford to buy a home and their work spaces are being eliminated wholesale as developers buy up all the land to create yet more unaffordable housing."

And Deptford resident Dan Strange, from the Defend Council Housing group, contrasted the video with council housing shortages and the high level of deprivation in parts of SE8, saying: "I was absolutely shocked by the clear speculation behind the project.

"No one is surprised but of course it's a loss for the people of Lewisham. It's clear the vast majority of people won't be able to afford these flats."

He went on: "It will impact on people who live here too. Buildings like this will cause rents to rise and the vast majority of people here privately rent."

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The 132-flat development was approved by a Lewisham Council planning committee in 2012, despite only six per cent of the homes being shared ownership and therefore classed as "affordable".

Mayor of Lewisham Sir Steve Bullock said: "It's a problem across the whole of London. We've seen it trickle down from properties along the riverfront right through the city. I think most of us aren't very happy about it."

Sir Steve said current legislation made it difficult for local authorities to act, but efforts were being made to secure higher amounts of truly affordable housing.

- News Shopper is awaiting a response from Cathedral.