London house prices still crazy!

granville_2

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.
[SNIP]

Don't despair - prices are coming down in North London (albeit slowly). I've been tracking n4, n8, n19, nw5 for the last year and prices are most definitely in decline (10-25% from peak 2007).

Grab yourself a copy of Firefox http://www.mozilla.com/ and install the Property Bee plug-in http://www.property-bee.com/. This allows you to track house prices via Rightmove.

And remember that the world has experienced perhaps the largest financial collapse we will ever see in our lifetime. House prices are only going one way at the moment (IMO...!).

Wookster

GracieP wrote: »

Especially when the street I live on is a couple of 100m from these flats and as I mentioned one of these sold for £347k at auction. Granted it needed redecoration, but it's a house with 2 bedrooms, a nice garden, potential to extend, no management fees and it's a quite street with an established community, none of the noise of the Broadway but only an added 2 minute walk from the amenities.

Prices are dropping for sure. We have a friends in that part of the world who were selling their flat for £290k last March. They accepted £215k a couple of months ago.

Prices are falling for sure

chewmylegoff

drc wrote: »

I agree. Here are some more hideous new build flats on Colney Hatch Lane in Muswell Hill;

They want 375k for a 2 bed in a building with one of the ugliest facades in North London :eek:. Don't give the square meterage but I imagine they are not that big and they are not that near Muswell Hill either. Unless the whole block has been insulated with gold, god knows why they are so crazily expensive.

having your kitchen spread down one wall of your reception room, instead of a proper kitchen and a separate reception room that doesn't stink of bacon comes at a premium don't you know.

open plan contemporary living, innit.

StevieJ

pizzagirl wrote: »

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

Grim :rotfl:
http://www.lake-district-guides.co.uk/general/lakesphotogallery1.html

We don't require any Pizza delivery girls at the moment, but please try again at a later date

StevieJ

dopester wrote: »

Longfield to Victoria. Time on train = 40 to 45 minutes, 80 to 90 minutes to work and back.

£17.60 return. 5 days = £88 per week. Maybe cheaper if you can sort out a season rail ticket.

Moving up North? Best choose a place which isn't just near your precious employer, but where other employment and trade opportunities will continue to exist. The full consequences of the credit-crunch will unfold over a number of years.

Keep at it Dopester, we don't want the !!!!ers moving Ooooop North really I prefer them staying on their treadmill and thinking
they live in Utopia.

ukcarper

We know we don't live in utopia we have to work hard to pay for lot

daveb975

ukcarper wrote: »

Shouldnt you be comparing beverley hills to somewhere like Weybridge or Bray

I don't think that there is any real equivalent to Beverley Hills in London - if there were it would be crazily expensive.

The houses there are more similar to our 'stockbroker belt' in places like Weybridge with massive gardens and swimming pools, but Beverley Hills is quite central (the equivalant of being in London zone 2?), not 20 miles out of the city centre.

wolvoman

London will always be expensive.

I earn a very decent salary in London and there are not tens but hundreds of thousands earning more than me.

Despite the recession there are still 300,000+ workers in the city and the average City salary is £74K.

This is not middle England.

GracieP

wolvoman wrote: »

Despite the recession there are still 300,000+ workers in the city and the average City salary is £74K.

So the type of property aimed at a couple comprising two average city workers, say a 4 bed victorian semi in Wimbledon in decent nick with a good family garden, should be about £400k at most. Quite a way to fall then.

Nobody thinks London prices should be on par with Sunderland, but the prices should be comparable to the salaries of the people with the type of profession who traditionally live in an area.

the_ash_and_the_oak

GracieP wrote: »

So the type of property aimed at a couple comprising two average city workers, say a 4 bed victorian semi in Wimbledon in decent nick with a good family garden, should be about £400k at most. Quite a way to fall then.

Nobody thinks London prices should be on par with Sunderland, but the prices should be comparable to the salaries of the people with the type of profession who traditionally live in an area.

a 74k salary at 4 times salary plus 10% deposit can get you a pretty good 2 bed flat in Bow tbf

http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-25732082.html?locationIdentifier=OUTCODE%5E756&maxBedrooms=2&minPrice=250000&maxPrice=350000&radius=0.5&pageNumber=8&backToListURL=%2Fproperty-for-sale%2Ffind.html%3FlocationIdentifier%3DOUTCODE%255E756%26maxBedrooms%3D2%26minPrice%3D250000%26maxPrice%3D350000%26radius%3D0.5%26index%3D70