London price/sq ft in different areas

[olly300]

Originally Posted by orcocan

you guys don't make any sense

What we are all saying is that it's unlikely for all things to be equal.

Originally Posted by orcocan

so, all else equal, a 500 and an 800 sqft 2 bed flats should sell for the same price just because they're both 2 bedrooms properties?
price/sqft is an objective indicator, it's absolutely fair enough that buyers will want to look at it

This would only happen if:
1. The flats were in the same block
2. The flats had the same lease length
3. The flats faced the same direction
4. The flats were on the same floor
5. Loads of other factors parking, balconies, gardens etc where the same.

This situation is rare in London.

[deelo555]

From my point of view I dont want to consider any 2 beds less than 800 sq ft as I want decent size bedrooms/living space. Not sure why this isn't relevant even in London?
If anything I would say price/sq ft is more relevant in London given that property prices are so high the cost to refurbish is often a small fraction of the land price.

[olly300]

Originally Posted by deelo555

From my point of view I dont want to consider any 2 beds less than 800 sq ft as I want decent size bedrooms/living space. Not sure why this isn't relevant even in London?
If anything I would say price/sq ft is more relevant in London given that property prices are so high the cost to refurbish is often a small fraction of the land price.

You simply don't understand or more likely refusing to understand- the property market in the UK including London doesn't work that way.

Housing is sold by the number of bedrooms.

If you want to work out whether a flat is large enough for you then you are going to have to see the floor plan of the flat.

However the majority of flats built before around 1980 don't have rectangular rooms. This means the measurements are actually for the largest length and width of each room.

You can continue to bang on about square feet and square metres to estate agents but they will just give you blank looks or ignore you. If you are lucky to find a kind one they will point you to the floor plan of a particular property.

[aliama]

Originally Posted by deelo555

From my point of view I dont want to consider any 2 beds less than 800 sq ft as I want decent size bedrooms/living space. Not sure why this isn't relevant even in London?
If anything I would say price/sq ft is more relevant in London given that property prices are so high the cost to refurbish is often a small fraction of the land price.

It's not all about the furnishings. In London, you might have to be practically living in the same street as an outstanding school for your children to get a place there. A street or two over and fat chance. And areas can change dramatically within a few streets. There also isn't much you can do about the external style of a property either, or whether there's a dodgy estate nearby.

Of course the size is relevant, but the point is that a flat of that size is likely going to be more expensive. I've been browsing flats in the Colliers Wood area (not too pricy there), and for about £300k it looks like you can expect the floor space to be in the region of 700 sq ft, which seems like more than enough room to me. Extra space is going to come at a premium.

Some examples:

http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-...-24350106.html, £279,950, 710 sq ft

http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-...-40629566.html
£299,950, 715 sq foot

http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-...-35905672.html
£264,950, 589.9 sq foot

http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-...-40163708.html
£219,950, 553.7sq foot

What area are you looking in?

I can sort of see that it might be handy to be able to search by floor area, but the trouble is it's reliant on the individual estate agents providing that info for each property, and not all of them do (agree this is annoying).

Most of them do have that information, so I'm finding it a little difficult to understand what the problem is here.

Is it that you're finding all the properties in the area you're looking at are too small? In which case, your expectations are probably too high as I said before, and you either need to lower them or up your budget.

OR is it that you're not entirely sure in which area of London you'll be able to find properties which will fit your expectations and your budget?

[propertyman]

Originally Posted by olly300

However the majority of flats built before around 1980 don't have rectangular rooms. .

Well most are rectangular, just not square

or someone has nicked a wall

Most people will talk in broad terms of size or to insist on basics like must be 3 double bedrooms can I put the sofa width wise not just lengthwise, or can I put a table for 4 in the kitchen?

And of course, people so very often end up buying what they weren't looking for.

[googler]

Originally Posted by deelo555

I wonder how hard it would be to start up a new property website which would show the following for each property:
price sq/ft ...

Exceedingly difficult. There's no national database holding the size of every property in the land, so these figures would have to either be derived from a team of measurers going around everyone's house/flat, or by them being provided each time a property goes up for sale, and, as was pointed out, they'll be meaningless unless everyone adheres to a standard method of calculating them.

You also need to quote them in square metres as well as square feet.

[theGrinch]

local knowledge is powerful

[deelo555]

Originally Posted by googler

Exceedingly difficult. There's no national database holding the size of every property in the land, so these figures would have to either be derived from a team of measurers going around everyone's house/flat, or by them being provided each time a property goes up for sale, and, as was pointed out, they'll be meaningless unless everyone adheres to a standard method of calculating them.

You also need to quote them in square metres as well as square feet.

If you're paying over 500k for a property in central London, I dont think its too much to demand a floorplan...Any serious buyer would want to see this so they might as well make it a requirement for listing.

[olly300]

Originally Posted by deelo555

If you're paying over 500k for a property in central London, I dont think its too much to demand a floorplan...Any serious buyer would want to see this so they might as well make it a requirement for listing.

You will get a floor plan with most properties whether they are in London or not.

However don't expect the floor plan to be accurate.

Most floor plans just measure the largest width and largest length of a room.

So if the room has a bay window one of the room measure measurements are to the middle of the bay window. When in fact the actual area is smaller.

[olly300]

Originally Posted by propertyman

Well most are rectangular, just not square

or someone has nicked a wall

Quite a few old houses don't have 90 degree corners which is interesting when you are decorating.