Is £250K for a 1 bed flat about right price for West London in traditional terms?

westernpromise

hildosaver wrote: »

A quarter of a million for a one bedded flat? Just let that sink in.

Are you my mother? She can't believe it's thirty shillings for a cup of tea!!

onlyroz

elliotwave wrote: »

I'm not saying the market is not overvalued in general, I think it is, but there still seems to be some 'fair' value in terms of multiples of median wages. I live in west London which is probably the worst of all and the properties I am looking at are £250K to £300K (but are only one beds)

We sold a 2-bed flat in SW15 for £202k in 2007. Last year it resold for £238k - and so it is incorrect to say that you can only get a 1-bed property in a "bad" area for £250k.

chucknorris

westernpromise wrote: »

Are you my mother? She can't believe it's thirty shillings for a cup of tea!!

You know what, I think that is starting to happen to me now, when I see the price of some things, I think how much! Probably clothes is the most common, that is probably because I don't really value (expensive) clothes that much.

lisyloo

and so it is incorrect to say that you can only get a 1-bed property in a "bad" area for £250k

This surely depends on area.
I live in zone 1 and the flat (1-bed~ I'm renting is worth £450K and that's for one that's average and could do with updating although excellent transprt links.
Let THAT sink in !!
Anything central for £250K is what I'd describe undesrieable in some way and not somewhere I'd want to live.
Clearly it's a different matter in SW15.

Closeness to transport links, distance from the center and the desireability of the area are surely major factors.

I've been looking and I reckon the range is £250K-£500K with the lower either being highly undesireable (if you're central) OR further out.

Nominally prices are high because interest rates are very low and the market historially tends to follow whatever people can afford (excluding central london which is supported by foreign investment, criminal proceeds and banking bonuses and is therefore an exception).

wymondham

Interesting question as we're always being told there are no (decent) jobs other than in London hence why everyone looks in London. 50k is quite a normal wage outside of London, yet people still aspire to a one bedroom flat as opposed to a 3 even 4 bed detached house elsewhere for that. Quality of life and all that!

lisyloo

we're always being told there are no (decent) jobs other than in London hence why everyone looks in London

Not true for me/us.
DH looked for a long time outside London and only looked in London when he couldn't find work in our home town.
Surely the market regulates itself. If there were plenty of quality jobs outside then millions of people simply wouldn't be pouring into London every day.

50k is quite a normal wage outside of London

Not sure where you got that figure from, but it's a long way from the median.

yet people still aspire to a one bedroom flat as opposed to a 3 even 4 bed detached house elsewhere for that. Quality of life and all that!

For me quality of life is NOT having a commute from hell every single day, rather than having spare bedrooms, but we're all entitled to have different priorities and millions of people choose to have the space and commute.
I can't afford to buy the (£450K) flat we rent so there's no way we can aspire to anything larger without doing the commute from hell.
I do actually have a house, it's just a daily 5 hour commute so we chose the flat over the commute.

wymondham

lisyloo wrote: »

For me quality of life is NOT having a commute from hell every single day, rather than having spare bedrooms, but we're all entitled to have different priorities and millions of people choose to have the space and commute.
I can't afford to buy the (£450K) flat we rent so there's no way we can aspire to anything larger without doing the commute from hell.
I do actually have a house, it's just a daily 5 hour commute so we chose the flat over the commute.

another London centric person. Not knocking you at all as you must have carefully planned it all and it works for you, but personally I couldn't do that.


With more working away from the office/Home working etc due to better comms maybe this wont be such an issue in the future. People could live where they wanted/could afford without compromising on housing/lifestyle?

lisyloo

another London centric person

The choice was unemployment in our home town or employment in London. I think we did the right thing, not just for us, but by everyone else as well.

Do you think millions of people do an unpleasant commute everyday if there are jobs closer to their home? I continue to be surpised that people appear to take that view.

My job can be done anywhere I like, but some jobs 100% cannot be done a home - for example picking up the rubbish, handing our the London standard, driving a bus, serving on the checkout. Working from home is only suitable for back offiec jobs that don't involve much collarboration, aren't customer facing and don't involve secure data. I don't see any reason short term to think there will be increased take up. Interestingly we have driverless trains in London, but still someone on them to open and shut the doors - perhaps the robot apocalypse is postposed?

somethingcorporate

I would not want to spend £250k on a pokey 1-bed in a crap part of london. I'd rather live somewhere nice with a house you can swing a cat in.

the_flying_pig

onlyroz wrote: »

We sold a 2-bed flat in SW15 for £202k in 2007. Last year it resold for £238k - and so it is incorrect to say that you can only get a 1-bed property in a "bad" area for £250k.

really? £250k for 100% share of a 2-bed property in sw15?? what was it like???


e.g. see


http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/find.html?locationIdentifier=REGION%5E85244&maxPrice=250000&googleAnalyticsChannel=buying