How do you feel about renting, Londoners?

LiveOnce

It seems like it is practically impossible to buy a house/flat in London and most people I know are renting or sharing accommodation and these are people in their late 20's or 30's.

How does this make you feel Londoners? Where do you see yourselves in 5 year? Or 10 years?

chewmylegoff

I've rented in London since 1997 (except 2004-7) when I moved here to attend university. On balance I have quite enjoyed it although I wouldn't want to be living in a house share any more. I owned a house between 2004 and 2007 but didn't really enjoy that as it was miles away from where everyone I knew lived.

Looking to buy now, as are most of my friends who haven't already in the last year or so. It's not impossible for a couple at all as long as at least one of you has a pretty decent job but. I know plenty of people younger than me who have been able to buy without help (and on single salaries) but you have to be prepared to start with a small flat in a not particularly nice area.

Loughton_Monkey

LiveOnce wrote: »

It seems like it is practically impossible to buy a house/flat in London and most people I know are renting or sharing accommodation and these are people in their late 20's or 30's.

How does this make you feel Londoners? Where do you see yourselves in 5 year? Or 10 years?

When I first worked in London (late 70's) I bought in Rainham (near Romford). I just bunged in up to £300K [on Rightmove] for 3 mile radius and got 964 results. OK, some of them a complete waste of time. Dropping down to perhaps a more realistic £200K, you still get 570.

What do you want? 4 bed detached Kensington & Chelsea?

Generali

You can buy a 2 bed flat in Cable St for less than £250,000. You can just about walk to work in The City from there.

AndyGuil

I've rented in London. Rents were similar/a bit higher than mortgage repayments so as soon as I had the deposit I bought a place. You get there eventually as long as you can save. You earn more in London, just got to hold back from excessive socialising. There is a lot of stuff to do that doesn't require much or any money often. It seems daunting to buy when you are renting because of the size of the deposit required, but you get there and you know it was worthwhile.

purch

Before you start discussing London or Londoners it is probably a good idea to define the area you are talking about.

Inside the M25 ?, inside the North/South Circular ?, anywhere you can catch a red bus run by TfL ?, within an hour, or 1/2 hour commute of the City ?, somewhere you can see the Shard on a clear day ?

You will get vastly different results for all of those areas.

purch

Loughton_Monkey wrote: »

When I first worked in London (late 70's) I bought in Rainham (near Romford). I just bunged in up to £300K [on Rightmove] for 3 mile radius and got 964 results.

If you do that for Rainham in Kent you get 682.

I know that has absolutely no relevance to anything, but I just felt like doing it :eek:

R_P_W

LiveOnce wrote: »

It seems like it is practically impossible to buy a house/flat in London and most people I know are renting or sharing accommodation and these are people in their late 20's or 30's.

How does this make you feel Londoners? Where do you see yourselves in 5 year? Or 10 years?

I see plenty of people buying property in London

Out,_Vile_Jelly

I rented in London for over 10 years, from cheap and cheerful houseshares in Croydon to living on my own in a lovely garden flat in Wimbledon for the past 5 years. Had some comical amateur landlords, and also some reassuringly professional ones. Living in SW19 was a luxury, but it was my only indulgence as I live fairly frugally compared to most people. You can rent in far nicer parts of town than you can buy, and I made the most of that whilst slowly saving up for a deposit. I work in Higher Education, so am not a big earner by London standards.

Bought a 2 bed house with garden in zone 4 last year which is ok, but there are many things I miss about renting; mainly how much less hassle it is when repairs are paid and organised by someone else. I also have scuzzier neighbours now and am less keen on inviting friends round.

I have no sympathy with couples saying they struggle to buy; as the savings you can make when renting a 1 bed flat or even a room in a houseshare are immense compared to what singletons have to pay.

I'm mid 30s and could possibly have bought a couple of years earlier, but I was quite happy in my rented flat saving away. I think people put themselves under too much pressure to buy by a certain age or stage of life.