How do you find the optimum place to live?

Towser

The other thing you should be considering is disposable income.

Gross disposable income is described by the ONS as money left after 'expenditure associated with income', such as taxes and social contributions, property ownership and provision for future pension income.
It reflects what people have to live on once their taxes, mortgage or rent and pension savings have been taken out.

This is why you should not discount Wokingham. Every town has their council house area you don't have to go there. Wokingham is not a deprived area.

https://www.thisismoney.co.uk/.../Westminster-residents-highest-disposable-income-head-Bri...

Towser

This might help in the discussion.. http://www.neighbourhood.statistics.gov.uk/HTMLDocs/dvc134_c/index.html

Towser

I would try using findahood.com to model areas you may be interested in.

Samsonite1

While it would be neat to have such a thing, it would ultimately be dangerous because unless it is down to the property level (which it never would be), you could end up buying specific property on a particular part of a street that should statistically be great but is not.

Personally I make a list of about 5-10 factors and rate them out of 3 (bad, ok, good) and fill it in as I go - do some research on schools & transport, visit the place and then also use the same criteria for viewing individual properties. What this ends up doing though is bringing up the most important aspect which is "what is most important to you" - statistics will not decide this although they will fill in some blanks or discount areas completely. It turned out that as I can work from home, proximity to a train station was less important (just as long as it was still practical) and therefore the "weighting" of transport became less, so I had to apply a weighting system to each criterion. After doing this, you realise then that there is a similar amount of depth required for an individual property - size, kerb-side appeal, etc. - you then have to weigh those up against geographical scores.

Anyway, I think that regardless of any statistical and algorithmic system, people have different priorities so you would need to be able to have some kind of slider for each metric to determine what is important (schools play a big part for some people, but none for others as one example).

Remember, "Statistics are like bikinis: What they reveal is suggestive, but what they conceal is vital" - Aaron Levenstein.

Towser

I think that regardless of any statistical and algorithmic system, people have different priorities so you would need to be able to have some kind of slider for each metric to determine what is important

Like Findahood?

Thanks for you input samsonite1

Some very desirable places in the north:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/property/uk/revealed-desirable-places-live-uk/

Towser

The map produced by the House of Commons Library based on ONS figures shows the hotspots for benefits claims +5
The map produced by the House of Commons Library based on ONS figures shows the hotspots for benefits claims


Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4408176/Birmingham-named-Britain-s-benefits-capital.html#ixzz4e8quW9A3
Follow us: @MailOnline on Twitter | DailyMail on Facebook

Towser

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

bbc Interactive - Where can I afford to live? Is this helpful?

Best Place to Live for Families 2016

https://www.uswitch.com/place-to-live/for-a-family

For prices and statistics use: https://www.upmystreet.com

To determine areas, I find this website so so so useful: http://www.commutefrom.com/

Basically plug in where you want to get to, and what your time for travel is - and it will tell you the places furthest out to go and you can go from there!

For things around sold house prices, you can use https://www.nethouseprices.co.uk and plug in some postcodes that you find.

Regarding looking at the market and understand prices things have been up for, then use rightmove and click "Price Comparison Report" and plugin any postcodes you have.

You definitely want to install Property Bee in firefox so that when you search for rightmove listings you can see when it was first seen, any price reductions and comments changes: http://www.property-bee.com/

Make sure you register and have "Work in a bee" ticked to get that information.

Regarding other things - Google Maps is great to pick out areas, street view what it looks like and to pinpoint locations and get postcodes.

Towser

Residents of Derby are the country's best-off in terms of disposable income, according to a study of household finances.

Workers in the East Midlands city - which is strong in transport-related industry such as aerospace engineering giant Rolls-Royce - enjoy an average spending power of £1,456 per month after they have settled their fixed outgoings.

That is £200 more per month than the British national average thanks to a cost of living that came in second-lowest among 30 UK cities, according to a study by finder.com.

The survey compared average city salaries against local rent and other standard monthly outgoings for 30 UK cities, calculating the disposable income of city residents after deducting tax, bills and other necessary general outgoings such as travel and food.

It discovered that the average British person gets to keep £1,083 per month after expenses and tax with the average monthly wage coming in at £2,073, while the average essential outgoings, such as rent, travel and food, total £990.

Reading residents (included in the survey despite not having city status) earn significantly more than the national average, at £2,473 a month, keeping roughly £1,287 after bills and making it the second highest-earning location, after London.

University town Reading has a large academic population, as does Southampton which comes in third, with a disposable income of £1,264.

Scottish cities Edinburgh and Aberdeen come just below the top three with Milton Keynes, Belfast and Swindon also featuring highly.

At the other end of table, the residents of the buzzy seaside city of Brighton limp in last with just £751 a month after essentials, almost half the amount of those in Derby, a massive difference of £705.

This is due to Brighton having the fifth highest living costs (£1,170) but also the seventh lowest average salary (£1,921).

Norwich comes just below as the second worst city for disposable income. It has the lowest monthly salary in the study (£1,762), leaving locals with just £872 of spending money every month.

Plymouth comes in third with locals receiving on average of £937 a month. Manchester and York finish the worst five cities with Portsmouth and Exeter just above.

Despite Londoners' earning the highest wage, they also, unsurprisingly, have the most bills and so feature much lower on the overall list.

Derby is the city that has highest disposable income, an average of £1,456 per month
Derby is the city that has highest disposable income, an average of £1,456 per month

Their disposable income is £1,095, only £12 above the UK average in the study. Their monthly outgoings of £1,629 are also over £350 more than any other city.

Hull is the city with the lowest outgoings of any city in the UK at just £767 per month.

However, residents have a lower monthly wage of £1,816 which means their disposable income is £1,049, below the study’s UK average.

Jon Ostler, CEO at finder.com, said: 'If you're considering moving to a new city, it is important to have an idea of the cost of living there.

'It may seem counter-intuitive, but this analysis shows that a lower wage offered in a different city doesn't automatically mean you have less money to spend, and could actually see you keep more.

'If you want to keep a closer eye on what you're spending, budgeting apps are useful tools to track your outgoings. This will ensure you don't overreach financially but can also help you grow your savings or spot ways that you can easily save money.'

Towser

Residents of Derby are the country's best-off in terms of disposable income, according to a study of household finances.

DE22 postcode is the least deprived in the area of Derby.

moneyistooshorttomention

One could add the "....and if I find it - then how do I keep it to myself - so The World and Their Spouse doesnt move there too" - as in the process they will muck it up for those already there (increased house prices, increased traffic, etc).