House prices around the UK

Legacy_user

Hi people.

I am currently looking around for properties. I am in no rush to buy, but will maybe apply for a mortgage this time next year...

I live in the South East where house prices are getting ridiculous...I mean they are seriously taking the pi**. They will apparently rise another 20-30% in the next 5 years.

For the price of a 1 / 2 bedroom flat in Guildford, Surrey....

I could get this in Rotherham:

https://www.taylorwimpey.co.uk/find-your-home/england/south-yorkshire/rotherham/the-banks/the-oxford

This is a blooming Mansion. I would be lucky to get the ground floor of this house as an apartment around where I live for the price of that whole 4 bedroom house. I would not get a driveway and I would not get a garden with it either.

Or this is 4 bedrooms too and is £25,000 cheaper:

https://www.taylorwimpey.co.uk/find-your-home/england/south-yorkshire/rotherham/the-wickets/the-chichester

I am a single bloke....not sure what I'd do with the other 3 bedrooms. Maybe I'd turn them into a Pool room, a room with a 5-a-side football pitch, and a study...wait I already have a study on the bottom floor!!!


Is Rotherham that bad?

There are of course plenty of other places outside the South East which are much more affordable.

If anyone has any ideas about nice places to live where houses are affordable let me know...

moneyistooshorttomention

One thing to bear in mind is that places with outrageously high housing prices tend to be that way because there is lots of demand to live there.

If house prices are a lot lower somewhere then it does tend to be because they have one or more of the following factors:

- not many jobs and/or the employers there pay lower wages

- fewer facilities

- worse weather

- in a bigger place it's easier to avoid ever going near the tatty areas everywhere has (provided you can afford to do so)

- things that weren't a problem to you in your home area happen noticeably often in that area (eg its an area where dogs are often kept outside and allowed to bark and/or an area where there is a noticeable amount of Japanese Knotweed around ....but there can be a surprising number of things that are worse than in your own area).

A plus side to moving area, on the other hand, could be fewer people.

Depends on what you regard as "swings and roundabouts" personally.

ManuelG

Do you work in the South East? If so, you need somewhere with a nice easy train connection.

Do you have lots of cash for a deposit? If so, then worth a 2 bed house to live in yourself for, say, £125k and then spend £75k on a flat to rent for some income? (to pay the train fare?)

System

True - I'd need to seriously investigate an area before I moved there.

Not too fussed about lack of jobs or low pay as I'm self-employed - work from home....

but the general area would need a good looking over.

I think going as far North as Yorkshire is probably a bit too far and yes I'd expect the weather to be even more dreary than the South East.

There are the odd houses here and there in the South that are reasonably affordable compared to my area. Southampton, Portsmouth, the odd place in Kent, places near the Cotswolds, Newquay.....

System

ManuelG wrote: »

Do you work in the South East? If so, you need somewhere with a nice easy train connection.

Do you have lots of cash for a deposit? If so, then worth a 2 bed house to live in yourself for, say, £125k and then spend £75k on a flat to rent for some income? (to pay the train fare?)

I have a decent sum of cash for a deposit - yes....

Where can I get a 2 bed house for £125k in an area that isn't run-down and full of rabid dogs?

SailorSam

I realise better paid jobs are probably more plentiful, but if you've got to pay silly numbers for somewhere to live doesn't it come to the point were you'd be much better off in a part of the Country where you could buy yourself a nice little flat even if you had to take a job on minimum wage.
Just a small sample 5 minutes walk from me and there must be many more examples all over the country.

http://www.primelocation.com/for-sale/flats/2-bedrooms/prescot/

This is right in the middle of the town centre, and a bit different.
http://www.primelocation.com/for-sale/details/35144043?search_identifier=67332d6917805bcb0674e2acfaf85684#4PAl1qVJ07GMfDJE.97

hcb42

Of all the places in the UK, why did you pick Rotherham? :P

ManuelG

dburford9 wrote: »

Where can I get a 2 bed house for £125k in an area that isn't run-down and full of rabid dogs?

Ha, that's where the research comes in...

Just looked around my area, it seems £135k-£140k guarantees you a half-decent area. As with all cities you're always on the edge of somewhere else. There's this, for example, on the market:

http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-49727407.html

The street looks nicely enough presented (kitchen and bathroom not huge), seems a half decent house. I do know from the map you're on the edge of... less salubrious areas, but despite coming from the city myself, as it's not my 'side' I couldn't be sure if it was OK or not... let alone moving from the South East! If *I* were buying that I'd be stalking the area at all times to get a feel.

Hoploz

You benefit at the other end in the south east. Where prices are high, percentage increases mean you make more profit, pound for pound. So if you play the game right you can cash in and downsize later on and live off the proceeds in your retirement

SailorSam

Hoploz wrote: »

You benefit at the other end in the south east. Where prices are high, percentage increases mean you make more profit, pound for pound. So if you play the game right you can cash in and downsize later on and live off the proceeds in your retirement

You buy a house as a home to live in. I can't see the point of having to work so many hours having to pay for it that you're having less life now. Just so that you'll be able to say in 25yrs i'll make a bigger profit.

LeoTLion

In answer to your question, yes, Rotherham really is that bad!