Balham is now a suburb possessing many well-built Victorian terraced houses now highly valued as family homes.
It has been settled since Saxon times and large country retreats for the affluent classes were built here in the eighteenth century,. However, most development occurred after the opening of Balham station in 1856.
Balham is situated between four south London Commons, Clapham Common to the north, Wandsworth common to the west, Tooting Graveney Common to the south, and the adjoining Tooting Bec Common to the east - the latter two historically distinct areas are referred to by both Wandsworth council and most local people as Tooting Common. These give it a green feel and a distinct boundary that makes it stand out as a district in the area.
It possesses a railway to tube interchange (the origin of the phrase "Balham-Gateway to the South" was reputedly a genuine Southern Railway advertisement from the 1926 opening of the tube station). The stations connect Balham easily and quickly to both the City of London and the West End. All this has combined to make it a popular location and property prices have soared as middle class professionals have moved in displacing the more working class feel the district had up until the 1970s.