London house prices still crazy!

amcluesent

>In Kent you can buy a 3 bed village house less than a mile from Farningham Road or Longfield railway stations, for less then £150,000.<

Interesting. My employer looks likely to be moving in 2011 and a train into Victoria would make sense.

SGE1

Moving to the home counties isn't always a real alternative though. Londoners don't necessarily live in the capital because it's close to work - many people enjoy living in the city. The garden of England is all very well, and no doubt cheaper, but it doesn't really compare to London does it, if your reasoning for living there in the first place isn't just 'it's near my work'.

House prices in London vary a lot. You can get a nice 2 bed flat with a decent lease for about 200k in some of the more 'up and coming' (read: slightly grotty but not as bad as 10 years ago) areas. Like everything, it's about compromising on things. If you want a nice flat, on a nice street, near public transport, near a leafy park, near shops, near bars, but far enough from them that you're not disturbed by noise, then yes, expect to pay a fair bit. Get rid of two or 3 of those criteria, and suddenly things don't look so depressing.

crazygaijin

In some areas of N London prices havent really fallen much yet. Its just slower thats all, they will eventually.

Also just because prices on rightmove are still at 2007 levels dont think anyone would pay that.

N London is not imune no matter how nice the area is.

In 5 years we will have seen huge falls, just need to be patient.

WhiteThierry

drc wrote: »

We're actually thinking about it. I don't know what places ooop North are nice though. Wouldn't want to live too far outside London as my mam is elderly and on her own, so need to be able to get to her quickly in the event.

as im sure anyone who lives anywhere else will tell you, the midlands/north is just as nice if not better than london, certaining a better place to bring up children! and dont believe what the press tell you, the rail services on the main lines in this country are exceptional, so travelling to see your mother is not a problem, for example a return from peterborough to london costs about 20 quid on a saturday and takes less than an hour, even from leeds its less than 2 hours.

pizzagirl

It's grim up north though. What with all those whippets and black pudding.

WhiteThierry

pizzagirl wrote: »

It's grim up north though. What with all those whippets and black pudding.

haha whippets are cute, and black pudding tastes good.


got to be better than all the gun crime and jellied eels darrrnnnn sarrrthhh.

GracieP

Running_Horse wrote: »

In Kent you can buy a 3 bed village house less than a mile from Farningham Road or Longfield railway stations, for less then £150,000.

I just took a look around those stations on rightmove, there is similar value in zone 4 areas of London like Raynes Park/Morden. Small 3 bed terraces can be as low as £170k, or you can get something like this for £280k. (Asking price, could actually sell for less.)



I know Morden isn't exactly a prime spot, but it's on the tube, it's really close to Wimbledon if you want to go out and it has a really lovely park. The street this house is on is very middle class/suburban which again isn't everyone's cup of tea but if you have a family it's quite nice. When houses like this fall below £200k I'll be viewing.;)

tuggy

drc wrote: »

most ftb's will be expected to pay over a quarter of a million pounds just for a basic 2 bed flat and I don't see many being able to do that. The only people who have that sort of money are people already on the ladder for several decades or those in really cushy jobs with great incomes.

Bit off topic but I dont think big incomes go hand in hand with cushy jobs. You'll find they have made the sacrifce of working bloody hard thru their training/university then professional exams and now they sacrifice family life for overtime, working weekends and high stress. in general, anyway.

just seemed a bit harsh to imply they sit 5 hours a day, feet up then collect a 100k plus pay cheque

anyway...back to the topic...! I agree with everything else you said

chewmylegoff

drc wrote: »

What do people think about London house/flat prices?

I still think they are beyond crazy. In the area I am in (North London), an average 2 bed flat in a fairly nice area still costs well over 250k and that is normally with a short lease and nothing flash. If you want to add 99 years to the lease, expect to pay another 30k. If we wanted to buy a house we would be looking at a starting base of about 500k which I just think is nuts. So, average salary earners can expect to have to pay half a million pounds if they want a house. Anyone would think this is Beverley Hills or something :rolleyes:. What's ridiculous is that a lot of the flats that are 250k or more were easily 100k less expensive just 6 years ago. I asked an EA the other day on a viewing, what did the owners do to the property in those 6 years that justified a 100k mark up? He just said "its a very popular area and properties are in demand".

Unless house prices fall significantly in non-crime ridden parts of suburban London, most ftb's will be expected to pay over a quarter of a million pounds just for a basic 2 bed flat and I don't see many being able to do that. The only people who have that sort of money are people already on the ladder for several decades or those in really cushy jobs with great incomes.

So, what is the future for average earners who want to live in London (in a fairly decent area) who cannot afford to pay a quarter of a million for a 50sq metre 2 bed flat? It's so depressing

typical FTBs in the nicer areas of london are couples in their late 20s who both work in professional jobs with a combined income of getting on for £100k. thus, property prices are high.

the_ash_and_the_oak

kinda feeling typical ftbs in London in 2001 were also couples in their late 20s who both work in professional jobs with a combined income of getting on for £100k tbh