Another property market boom?

Hereward

The cost of living is more than living in Norfolk, or Cambridgeshire for that matter, but the difference is only about 10-20%. House prices are being driven by the huge demand for housing in the area, but why someone would want to live there when there are plenty of "affordable" houses within easy commute to London. £300k buys a huge house around here.

mi-key

Its not another boom, its just stupid London prices, and the stupid people who will pay them. If you compare prices for similar size properties in London with even expensive areas in other parts of the country, London is hugely overpriced.

Yes, the cost of living is slightly higher, but they dont pay £2 for a pint of milk, £2 for petrol, or have gas and electric bills that are twice as much as say Birmingham.

It does create a false impression of prices though - in most areas prices are static or dropping slightly, but the average can show an increase because of a) the sheer amount of properties in London, and b) the high prices they sell for.

You need to remember the majority of people in the UK dont live in London, so it really is like a little island seperate from the reality of the rest of the country.

p.s. Personally, I'd pay extra NOT to live in London !!

RHemmings

mi-key wrote:

Its not another boom, its just stupid London prices, and the stupid people who will pay them. If you compare prices for similar size properties in London with even expensive areas in other parts of the country, London is hugely overpriced.

Yes, the cost of living is slightly higher, but they dont pay £2 for a pint of milk, £2 for petrol, or have gas and electric bills that are twice as much as say Birmingham.

It does create a false impression of prices though - in most areas prices are static or dropping slightly, but the average can show an increase because of a) the sheer amount of properties in London, and b) the high prices they sell for.

You need to remember the majority of people in the UK dont live in London, so it really is like a little island seperate from the reality of the rest of the country.

p.s. Personally, I'd pay extra NOT to live in London !!

Just the higher rents alone are enough to make London much more expensive to live in than other parts of the country. But lots of other things are cheaper outside London. Entertainment for one. Partially due to basic costs, partially due to less opportunity. Not many Andrew Lloyd Webber musicals outside London. Though I think the difference in entertainment value between an ALW megaproduction and the local Am-Dram society is much overrated. I've seen boring West End Productions (Tommy) and excellent Am-Dram productions in a local hall (Copenhagen).

Do you live outside London? I think that living in London, apart from additional job opportunities, is vastly overrated. But it's very common to meet people who think that living anywhere other than London is a fate worse than death.

chris83_2

There were articles on this recently and there are several places which are more expensive to live than London, when taking into account the fact that wages are considerably higher in London. I seem to remember that Cardiff was the highest with London in about 10th place.

LeanneF

I've lived recently in both Cardiff & London. Renting was cheaper in Cardiff, but aside from that the cost of living was generally comparable...especially using my favourite yardstick, the price of beer. The only thing I find to be noticably cheaper outside London is the price of cabs.

However, when I moved to London to do a comparable job, not a promotion, my salary doubled...I paid nearly the same in tax in my London job as I took home in my Cardiff job. So even with the increased housing costs, I was better off.

Leanne

RHemmings

LeanneF wrote:

I've lived recently in both Cardiff & London. Renting was cheaper in Cardiff, but aside from that the cost of living was generally comparable...especially using my favourite yardstick, the price of beer. The only thing I find to be noticably cheaper outside London is the price of cabs.

In my experience, the price of loose mushrooms seems to vary to as great a degree as house prices.

LeanneF

Interesting... and do you find the cost to be directly proportional or inversely proportional to house prices?

MascaraMinx

I originate from the North but like living in london because..........

I get paid more & there are many more career opportunities, it's very easy to get around, despite high crime I feel relatively safe as a female travelling around due to numbers of people, social scene is great, stores and bars are open all the time, there's always something new to do/ experience, there is a lot of history to be appreciated, I enjoy the diversity and multi-culturalism..... I could go on.

If I had kids I would move back up north. But the reasons above are some of the many reasons why thousands of "stupid people" such as myself will pay over the odds for a property.

To the OP - try looking in areas outside of Zones 1 and 2 that are on reasonable transport links and you should find housing available roughly £100k below the asking prices you are seeing

natwill_3

[2) What kind of people easily splash out £300-£350k for a starter house in average area?[/QUOTE]

FTB's here. I am on second home, just bought for 300k.

Gazumped on earlier flat I liked by FTB for 315k. 95% mort i think

One of my friends has just bought first home for 310k, no deposit to speak of but a fairly good salary of about 70.

It is crazy, I look at prices outside London and think wow but then my salry would drop by about 20k so it evens out

pawpurrs

fairly good salary at 70k, Wish my Dh was earning that! Isnt the average uk salary less than 20k?!?!