Rents in UK now most expensive in Europe

JencParker

MacMickster wrote: »

So extrapolating from that, in the UK the average British renter has £1168 per month left to live on after paying their rent while the average European renter has only £1028 to live on.

Meaningless figures because you have to take the cost of living into account. In many European countries £1028 would be a small fortune!

MacMickster

JencParker wrote: »

Meaningless figures because you have to take the cost of living into account. In many European countries £1028 would be a small fortune!

Of course the figures are meaningless - as is quoting a European average rent and comparing it to a UK average rent.

As has already been pointed out however, renting any property in the major commercial centres of the richest European nations is pretty expensive. People need to weigh up for themselves whether the advantages of living in these centres outweigh the high costs. Nobody should feel that they have a god given right to live there.

remorseless

JencParker wrote: »

Meaningless figures because you have to take the cost of living into account. In many European countries £1028 would be a small fortune!

you must have never visited any major cities ever in the continent to think that £1028 (EUR1443 (26/6)) is a small fortune!!!

In Europe most flats have 'body corporate' to cover for centralised heating, cleaning, etc. Esp in colder climates that can be easily EUR100 even in cheaper part of Europe.

Have a look at Amsterdam

UK, Europe, cost of life is fairly expensive in major cities, living in little towns maybe cheaper but usually there's less work and/or wages are lower.
UK does have less certainties when it comes to renting, having very short leases compared to most of EU. Transport is very expensive, with £1028 even in the UK, after covering a season ticket from Kent, etc to the city, you won't have much in your pockets!

JencParker

MacMickster wrote: »

Of course the figures are meaningless - as is quoting a European average rent and comparing it to a UK average rent.

As has already been pointed out however, renting any property in the major commercial centres of the richest European nations is pretty expensive. People need to weigh up for themselves whether the advantages of living in these centres outweigh the high costs. Nobody should feel that they have a god given right to live there.

Not when it is a percentage of income rather than an actually cost in sterling.

Generali

ruggedtoast wrote: »

This BBC calculator shows where you can afford to live on your budget:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-23234033


I put in renting a 3 bed for £850 a month at the "cheaper end of the market" , which would already be a real stretch for a family on an average wage with two young children.

London and most of the SE is unobtainable.

Shouldn't you be using the London and SE average wage for the calculation? The average wage of someone in Wigan or [insert Northern Hell Hole] isn't pertinent to the price of rent in Guildford or St Albans.

Clearly some people can afford to rent in London and the SE as some people rent in London and the SE.

cells

Rents are very expensive in some areas because building a house in those areas are very expensive.

Once a city gets to the point that it has to build upwards rather than outwards (be it a real constraint like an island eg Singapore) or like a fekin greenbelt then the cost of homes and the rent of homea more than doubles.

The reason is to build upwards costs a lot more money. For a start you have to buy lots of existing homes in an expensive area and knock them down. That alone might mean an acre of land costs you £25 million rather than a greenfield plot at £25 thousand.


but whats worse is that in London we are not building outwards and we are only very slightly building upwards....mostly we are just not building at all.


so you get a situation where to rent a house in London costs 3x what it does in Birmingham. And Birmingham is not a northern hell hole its our second biggest city

cells

Generali wrote: »

Shouldn't you be using the London a.nd SE average wage for the calculation? The average wage of someone in Wigan or [insert Northern Hell Hole] isn't pertinent to the price of rent in Guildford or St Albans.

Clearly some people can afford to rent in London and the SE as some people rent in London and the SE.

In my experience most renters in London are sharers. So they can't afford to rent a house or flat they can only afford to rent a room

ruggedtoast

remorseless wrote: »

After years and years of using English as the lingua franca in Europe, where can immigrants from the continent who have been taught some English in school can simply walk in and work?

Second language spoken in other countries:

hmm English speaking countries? :rotfl::rotfl:

if you are say Italian, Spanish, etc even though life could be better in Poland, Slovakia, etc (plenty of jobs there) the language barrier is IMHO a disincentive....here, no need.

To be honest if I could speak other European languages fluently and at will so I could work a proper career job , the UK wouldn't even be in my top 3 of countries to live and work in.

France and Germany and pretty much all of Scandinavia provide a much better place for family life and are all of 90 minutes away by Easyjet when you want to visit home.

remorseless

ruggedtoast wrote: »

To be honest if I could speak other European languages fluently and at will so I could work a proper career job , the UK wouldn't even be in my top 3 of countries to live and work in.

France and Germany and pretty much all of Scandinavia provide a much better place for family life and are all of 90 minutes away by Easyjet when you want to visit home.

I totally agree! Unfortunately though I believe most of EU countries teach English in schools, so most have grown up learning English (or will). Some may learn French or German, however English is the predominant option, this will create even more people ready to simply come to the UK because of the opportunities and they're ready from a linguistic perspective.

I don't want to sound over-simplistic but essentially (I believe) most of the continent speaks English now days, don't need a visa and can do (your) work (and speak a second native language).

What I don't know (and it would be interesting) is if Brits do or can do the same, as in become fluent in other languages and mix and mingle in the continent. I am sure plenty do speak but I don't know to what percentage.
For example, look at Slovakia, there're quite a lot of jobs for grads in multinationals recruiting entry level corporate jobs with language ability (say English + French or Italian, etc). Why don't Brits jump at those roles? Yes lower pay, lower cost of life (and easy set up) to gain experience to put on their cv?

As I said, pardon my ignorance because I don't know how much foreign languages are emphasised in the UK as subjects in school...
I don't think I have ever met in the workforce a native English speaker who would do for example customer support in French or Spanish, etc...

ruggedtoast

remorseless wrote: »

I totally agree! Unfortunately though I believe most of EU countries teach English in schools, so most have grown up learning English (or will). Some may learn French or German, however English is the predominant option, this will create even more people ready to simply come to the UK because of the opportunities and they're ready from a linguistic perspective.

I don't want to sound over-simplistic but essentially (I believe) most of the continent speaks English now days, don't need a visa and can do (your) work (and speak a second native language).

What I don't know (and it would be interesting) is if Brits do or can do the same, as in become fluent in other languages and mix and mingle in the continent. I am sure plenty do speak but I don't know to what percentage.
For example, look at Slovakia, there're quite a lot of jobs for grads in multinationals recruiting entry level corporate jobs with language ability (say English + French or Italian, etc). Why don't Brits jump at those roles? Yes lower pay, lower cost of life (and easy set up) to gain experience to put on their cv?

As I said, pardon my ignorance because I don't know how much foreign languages are emphasised in the UK as subjects in school...
I don't think I have ever met in the workforce a native English speaker who would do for example customer support in French or Spanish, etc...

Languages are taught to a basic level in British high schools, often by teachers who can't speak those languages themselves.

This isn't really the problem though, it's more that there is no hunger for a second language among learners. They just don't think they will ever need to use them, so why bother.

The point most British people realise that Spanish, French or German would actually be very useful in their lives, is generally the point when it is too late. The brain loses the ability to acquire a new second language rapidly in ones mid to late 20s, then the decline is exponential.

But speaking is only half of it. I could go to France and get by, there is no way I could do my job I have in England, chair meetings and write detailed reports in French which would really limit what I could do unless I really hit the books solidly, and with respect to my peers, I am a much better linguist than most people who have been through the state education system here.