House prices in the north

MyOnlyPost

Doshwaster wrote: »

I see very little evidence that UKIP have a credible plan for struggling northern areas.

I'm sorry you seem to have interpreted my statement as my opinion. UKIP have very little of anything to offer anyone is my fundamental belief

Doshwaster wrote: »

There are many good reasons why businesses might want to locate in the North. Land is cheap and employment costs are lower. If you need a lot of space such as Nissan or Hitatchi then you aren't going to open a site in Guildford.

These manual jobs don't bring with them the real distribution of wealth that is needed to bring the country to something like a level playing field. It is perceived by many of the financial services companies that you have to be in London. As financial services are the backbone of the UK economy and have higher salaries than manufacturing it is these kind of jobs that need to be more evenly distributed. A child should not have to dream of moving south in order for good job prospects or a better salary

Doshwaster wrote: »

Many London/SE based companies are transferring back office functions to branch offices in the North as it is cheaper for them to do the work there and less hassle than managing a remote office in Poland, Romania or India - a phenomenon called "Northshoring".

Yes there are many northern call centres, particularly in the NE and in Liverpool. Again lower grade lower paid jobs. We systematically destroyed the manufacturing base of the North causing huge deprivation to once proud communities with very little thought or planning for what came next. Many areas of the North suffered recession during the 80's boom of the South. If your local community had suffered this hardship in the name of modernisation and seen relative wealth shift inexorably southwards would you now be happy that 30 years later some low to semi skilled work came back to the area?

Back to my earlier point, the whole country (not just the South) has to realise that a large proportion of the North is disenfranchised for a reason and we have all seen what this disillusionment can lead to. It is long overdue that the governemnt take positive steps to improve the lot of the whole nation for the benefit of the whole nation, they need to get out of their London bubble and see more of the country. Who knows Southerners may move North (assuming they can pass the exam) if the economic conditions were right thus alleviating some of the housing pressure on the South.

eamon

Many of these things are within the power of government to do. We know that the current Houses of Parliment are crumbling to dust. An ideal opportunity to do something radical and make a huge difference. But it won't happen.

LandOfConfusion

knightstyle wrote: »

A decent 4 bedroom house, will cost £140k or £180k for detached with large garden etc, a new 3 bed semi can be bought for £135k.

That's why none of the parties, not even the LibDims, realistically want a tax on land values (what this is and why it's such a good idea explained here and here). They've profited far too much by buying early and then assisting the concentration of jobs + skilled workers in the South East.

And of course it helps that most people don't know either what LVT is or why it's often cited as "the fairest tax".

knightstyle wrote: »

More important is the quality of life

I'll be looking to buy in the next 1-2 years and, after having saved long and hard (since I was 17) I'm absolutely horrified at what little my money can buy down here.

I can get a grotty 1-bed flat in the, shall we say, council-supported social ward of my hometown for 'only' £125,000 or I can move a little further away, spend ~£180,000 and buy a Victorian 2-bed mid-terrace in an area one of my managers once described as being "violent".

So, as I don't want to spend years of my life living in a proverbial public toilet it looks like I'm going to have to move away from both here and my family.

I'm currently looking at the possibility of moving to Cambridgshire / Peterbough although my main concern is:

Doshwaster wrote: »

I know (from personal experience) that if I lost my job down here I would find something else within a few weeks. I don't know anyone who is long-term unemployed and those who do find themselves out of work just take it as an excuse to go on holiday as they know they will easily find something when they get back.

Exactly. Not being from around there I have no idea of what the skilled jobs market is like there, which makes things tricky.

Doshwaster

LandOfConfusion wrote: »

I'm currently looking at the possibility of moving to Cambridgshire / Peterbough although my main concern is:

Many people on here would call Cambridgeshore/Peterborough, the Deep South!

South Cambridgeshire has some of the highest property prices outside of London as you are in prime commuting distance of both London and Cambridge. Prices drop quickly when you get north of Cambridge and out into the Fens as local jobs become sparse and the road and rail links south into Cambridge are poor.

Peterborough has decent rail and road connections but the jobs market there isn't great.

Purdeysmum

I am relocating to Haydock from Surrey for this very reason, I cannot afford anything in Surrey and am currently in the process of buying a 2 bed bungalow with a huge garden :j

cyantist

jeanzbeanz wrote: »

It's definitely not as simple as north/south.
We're in a very nice suburb in north Leeds and it's far more expensive here than where my cousins live in a "posh" part of Northampton 1.5 hours south. Likewise Doncaster, Hull, south Leeds, etc are far cheaper than north Leeds despite being further south. And Harrogate to our north is more expensive than Leeds but also seriously nice

I'd definitely agree with this.
We own a house in the South (within the M25), it’s a detached 4 bed, 2 bath with ¼ acre. We recently were considering moving to Leeds and were looking for a similar house and there was nothing we could afford. Yes we could have bought a 3 bed semi for around 200k with a 10m garden that needs everything doing to it, but if we were looking for an equivalent house with similar sized garden we’d have had to put over 150k extra to buy somewhere in Leeds. Considering hubby would have to take at least a 15k pay cut to work in Leeds compared to London we'd be much worse off financially if we moved there.

[Deleted User]

Leeds? Honestly? You can get a nice 4 bed like this for only £345k - http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-54579232.html

I could flog my little 3 bed house (South Herts/Just in the M25, near M1) and cut £120k off my mortgage by moving into that place.

armchaireconomist

Northern England isn't as overcrowded nor amuck with foreign investors, thus house prices tend to rise at similar % as a whole, but stay reasonably relative to the reinstatement costs. Or as we prefer to call them, "realistic".


That said, Of the 2 major towns near my village you can buy a 3-bed semi for £30,000 in one and you can barely get a flat for £100,000 in the other <5 miles away.

cyantist

ringo_24601 wrote: »

Leeds? Honestly? You can get a nice 4 bed like this for only £345k - http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-54579232.html

I could flog my little 3 bed house (South Herts/Just in the M25, near M1) and cut £120k off my mortgage by moving into that place.

It looks lovely and in some ways is a lot nicer than my current house. But because it’s 3 stories the living space is absolutely tiny – a kitchen that small and only one other reception room isn’t enough living space for 4 bedrooms.

Also it’s a mid-terrace with a tiny garden – not comparable to a detached with a garden that extends almost 100m.

I could also sell my place, move in there and knock 120k off my mortgage but I would have a lot less space and I feel that moving up North I should be able to buy an equivalent sized house for less money and that’s not possible.

Also taking a 15k cut in salary would mean we were almost £800 a month worse off in terms of take home pay, but 120k less on our mortgage would only be £525 less.

[Deleted User]

You could always get this, with 7 acres of shared space and tennis courts
http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-57844591.html

You can pick up 4 bed detached houses in Leeds for under £350k. There are LOADS of them. In my village in south herts, you'd need to find £575k (And that seems oddly cheap as the next available house is £700k)

I could move to Leeds and keep my salary identical... I don't want to though!