Is London living cost affordable?

sticky23

olly300 wrote: »

Only they threw money at the wrong things in their attempt to end child poverty.

If they threw money into giving every child a virtually full-time properly funded state nursery place from age 3 they would have got better results.

But that's thinking for the long term............

I couldn't agree more..

That's exactly what's on offer in Denmark where I grew up - apart from the fact that it's from age 1..

The local government can actually demand that a child is put into nursery there - if there are concerns about the child's welfare. It happened in my own family in the early 70's and I'm sure it prevented a lot of damage to the child...

Malcolm.

Cleaver wrote: »

I think what he meant was that Hamish only said that the population of London was over 7 million, not 7 billion.

Oh, the 'where did you get this from' was 'what point are you making'. Thanks. I missed that.

The cryptic point I tried (and failed) to make is that it's misleading to relate affordability of a region by number of people living there, just as it is by number of people not living there.

A region is not more affordable than an other because more people live there.

ukcarper

diable wrote: »

Prices where still ok in 72.

Depends what you call ok. I was earning the average wage in 1972 and had to move 30 miles from London to buy and that was a 3 bed terrace at over 5x my salary.

silvercar

sticky23 wrote: »

.... and being a working mother is out of the question, as childcare is so expensive.

On low(ish) incomes, 80% of your child care costs are refunded through the care element of working tax credits.

cashbackproblems

Well im young and moved to London for work as i couldnt find any half decent jobs in my home town of Birmingham (2nd largest city!!) so had no choice otherwise i wouldnt have moved here. I live in north london zone 5 so still quite a away out and commute into the city every day, railcard is 170pm. IM lucky that iv found a nice cheap room in someones house as a lodger so manage to save more than the average london renter as i pay 90pw all in. Still renting makes me feel sick as its wasted money and im building nothing for the future, i feel sorry for ppl who pay 1k+ per month as its such a shame u work so hard and give 70% of it to some wealthy landlord.

However im looking at getting a 2 bed apartment in zone 3-5 in the North and cant imagine i'll ever be able to afford anything, i have a good job but not enough to get a 300k mortgage and get no help from parents like alot of my friends who are buying are getting.

I think the solution is to encorage more companies to locate outside London e.g. manchester/birmingham as especiallyin business/finance the jobs just arent there and maybe companies argue the talent isnt up north but if they moved myself and others im sure would follow them.

silvercar

However im looking at getting a 2 bed apartment in zone 3-5 in the North and cant imagine i'll ever be able to afford anything, i have a good job but not enough to get a 300k mortgage and get no help from parents like alot of my friends who are buying are getting.

You are looking for too much. I've just looked on right move for something similar to my first step on the property ladder. You can get perfectly decent 2 bed flats in North Finchley for around 200k. A walk to the tube station and supermarket but very near the cinema complex and parks.

Jowo_2

olly300 wrote: »

Only they threw money at the wrong things in their attempt to end child poverty.

............

I read an article from a journalist who was critical of the previous government's attention on children, the way they are considered 'innocents', hence a lot of money was thrown at the parents of children which meant a lot of other communities that required help, such as adult addicts, lost out.

Also, that this largesse didn't really help families that had poverty of values - the neglect of their children continued in the same way despite their income.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2010/may/27/child-poverty-focus-dead-end

"I never admired or trusted Labour's obsession with "lifting children out of poverty,...I think you do that by ending adult poverty. I believe focusing on the child as the passive recipient of state intervention was a well-meaning sleight of hand, and a mistake....

Intellectually, the focus on children was sentimental and dishonest; a way of signalling very strongly that Labour concerned itself, exclusively and scrupulously, with helping only "the deserving poor". Who, after all, could be more deserving than suffering children, who are in no way responsible for the economic circumstances in which they find themselves?

Plenty of people, actually – people who were once poor children themselves, but who, in the rush to focus on helping the plainly innocent, were assumed to be guilty of !!!!lessness or worse. Guilt was even apportioned in a literal sense, as the numbers of mentally ill, addicted and ill-educated prisoners mounted."

olly300

cashbackproblems wrote: »

Well im young and moved to London for work as i couldnt find any half decent jobs in my home town of Birmingham (2nd largest city!!) so had no choice otherwise i wouldnt have moved here. I live in north london zone 5 so still quite a away out and commute into the city every day, railcard is 170pm. IM lucky that iv found a nice cheap room in someones house as a lodger so manage to save more than the average london renter as i pay 90pw all in. Still renting makes me feel sick as its wasted money and im building nothing for the future,

Where are you going to live if you don't rent?

Renting is not a waste of money especially at the start of your career. There are no jobs for life any more so if a better job comes along that will allow you to progress in your career in South London, the Thames Valley, Scotland or even aboard you can easily up sticks and go.

There are loads of people in their 30s and 40s who have to commute for hours to provide for their families as they have a mortgage on a home.

You on the other hand can up sticks with one month or less notice and go anywhere.

I currently have 2 friends working in Switzerland. One has to keep coming back to check on the house they are renting out while the other comes back when she likes as she was renting before hand.

princeofpounds

Renting is not dead money. When you have a mortgage, you rent from the bank and buy an option to purchase the property by paying back the principal of the loan. If you own a house, you forfeit the income you could generate if you sold the house and invested the capital (even in a buy to let).

Housing ALWAYS costs money.

olly300

sticky23 wrote: »

and being a working mother is out of the question, as childcare is so expensive.

Odd how I have family and friends who managed to be working mothers and not all of them are high rate tax payers.

I guess they are more friendly then you as part of their solution for childcare was talking to mothers at the school gate and finding those who worked different hours to them or didn't work at all, finding relations who didn't mind looking after children, etc.