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

elliotwave

quick look on rightmove... 2 beds in SW15 are starting around £315K so £238K must have been some kind of super bargain?

elliotwave

the_flying_pig wrote: »

if your question is simply, is the current relationship between london HPs & london pay pretty much the same as it ever was? then emphatically no, it's trivially easy to prove, with referenced to published data, that the relationship that existed even a few years ago has been completely smashed.

whether or not this means that prices are [your words] "about right" or "fairly priced" is another matter & a much harder question.

can i just ask...what is the source of that data?

I still get the impression that a lot of jobs around the median wage have been created in London through corporate expansion etc. If that is the case then if London multiples have traditionally been around 4 then on current London wages, £250K is not too overpriced? I realise its a rough indication but I'm just trying to guage peoples views to make sure I'm not missing something. Maybe the median London wage would have traditionally been enough to support a 2 or 3 bed property rather than todays 1 bed?

lisyloo

Just checked and ons have london median at £34k for April 2013.
That's makes a joint multiple of 3.7 for a 1 bed that's not central.
It's only affordable because we have rock bottom mortgage rates.

the_flying_pig

elliotwave wrote: »

can i just ask...what is the source of that data?

I still get the impression that a lot of jobs around the median wage have been created in London through corporate expansion etc. If that is the case then if London multiples have traditionally been around 4 then on current London wages, £250K is not too overpriced? I realise its a rough indication but I'm just trying to guage peoples views to make sure I'm not missing something. Maybe the median London wage would have traditionally been enough to support a 2 or 3 bed property rather than todays 1 bed?

elliotwave

lisyloo wrote: »

Just checked and ons have london median at £34k for April 2013.
That's makes a joint multiple of 3.7 for a 1 bed that's not central.
It's only affordable because we have rock bottom mortgage rates.

:eek: thought the median was higher .... i guess my thinking for the post was that there are enough londoners on about 50K to sustain that level at the bottom of the London market indefinately along with BTL/foreign investors and god knows what else!

onlyroz

the_flying_pig wrote: »

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

We used to live here:

http://www.rightmove.co.uk/house-prices/detailMatching.html?prop=43506742&sale=51624278&country=england

onlyroz

elliotwave wrote: »

quick look on rightmove... 2 beds in SW15 are starting around £315K so £238K must have been some kind of super bargain?

Nope it was a record price for the postcode.

MARTYM8`

I think people confuse the mean wage in London with the median wage - the former is distorted by a smallish proportion of very high paid workers whereas the latter reflects more closely what a a typical person earns. In London the median - typical - income is less than £30,000 if you strip out residents of K&C, the City and Westminster.

Now if you think its sensible or desirable that the best most people on well above average earnings can do is to afford to buy a one bed flat at a four times salary multiple - then we really have lost the plot.

And as for £250k getting you a one bed - in Acton it might just buy you a pokey studio flat now or a one bed above a pizza parlour.

http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-46871660.html

http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-46871660.html

lisyloo

Elliotwave you are right on both counts.
Some people on here are overestimating wages big time. Median of £27 outside London and £34 inside and women still earning less than men (source ONS).
Mean is higher but is skewed by a small number of very high salaries and less indicative.

You are also correct that if you take a relatively small area like say zone 1 then it's certainly poosible to price out people on median wage and that's why london is an exception to the rest of the country.
That area has been growing in size with normal (median wage) people usually living further out.
The choices are - live further out, live in complete dump or get somewhere small. Most people choose the former especially if they have kids.

the_flying_pig

onlyroz wrote: »

We used to live here:

http://www.rightmove.co.uk/house-prices/detailMatching.html?prop=43506742&sale=51624278&country=england

Well, it's a small place, more like a natural one bed than two bed, but, even so, well under £500 per square foot seems very cheap. How long was the lease on it? There must be something a little 'wrong' with it that I'm not spotting, at that price. say very far from the tube in an area dominated by LA housing? The price seems normal enough by the standards of a few years ago, but post the 2011-2014 London mini bubble less so...