First time buyer: one bedroom in London

numbercruncher8

Depends what you're comparing it against. Lots of new builds have charges of £200 a month as well, but then they don't include electricity and water. 
But flats in older properties can come with very low charges simply for ground rent. 
In my view Pocket Living have simply padded the figures. They are trading on the fact that people don't want to bother with maintenance.

Personally I don't see it as a discount. One thing about the area is that there are very few high-rise new builds, and such few properties to compare it against.

Do you really need this area or something? In my view, prices are still declining and eventually this will have knock-on effects, as people can afford different areas. But this will take some time to play out. People selling up BTLs or Airbnb should see more properties come to market in this area. 

About being patient, there is something like this: https://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-79042130.html which could drop to £375k as well in future. It has more space and is more centrally located.

Crashy_Time

numbercruncher8 said:

Depends what you're comparing it against. Lots of new builds have charges of £200 a month as well, but then they don't include electricity and water. 
But flats in older properties can come with very low charges simply for ground rent. 
In my view Pocket Living have simply padded the figures. They are trading on the fact that people don't want to bother with maintenance.

Personally I don't see it as a discount. One thing about the area is that there are very few high-rise new builds, and such few properties to compare it against.

Do you really need this area or something? In my view, prices are still declining and eventually this will have knock-on effects, as people can afford different areas. But this will take some time to play out. People selling up BTLs or Airbnb should see more properties come to market in this area. 

About being patient, there is something like this: https://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-79042130.html which could drop to £375k as well in future. It has more space and is more centrally located.

Down from 450k (what were they thinking!) but still not great value.

redefinr

I'm looking at all sort of expenses, for example Hammersmith has one of the lowest Council Tax in London. I lived for 10 years in Islington and I can tell you the difference.

numbercruncher8

The cheapest is Wandsworth for sure.
You could get a 1-bed in Putney, although not new build type. Better area than Goldhawk Road for sure, close to the river and parks, although tube is not as efficient. Depends where you need to get to.

Wandsworth itself is even cheaper. This kind of property is comparable to the Pocket Living one but is way better IMO. The trade off is less transport links, no tube. Although the station itself is only a short ride from Clapham/Vauxhall/Waterloo.

If people think that demand may increase for certain types of properties because of working from home, it'll be these types of flats that will suffer as people move out from London to places with gardens.

redefinr

That's a nice one...pretty big with a balcony, wow. The transportation for me is quite essential though, I have many clients all around London so I will need to step out quite a lot. I don't really think everything will be 'working from home' it's probably happening this year but it can't be forever.

hazyjo

Says less than a mile to tubes to not exactly none. Only 9 stops to Victoria from East Putney. Could be worse. It's not exactly the suburbs.

If you're travelling all over London, some clients will surely be west, meaning an even shorter commute than if you lived in other locations.

Crashy_Time

jimbog said:

I know you have been looking for a long time but I really would wait as prices are certainly not going up

Good advice.

Windofchange

redefinr said:

That's a nice one...pretty big with a balcony, wow. The transportation for me is quite essential though, I have many clients all around London so I will need to step out quite a lot. I don't really think everything will be 'working from home' it's probably happening this year but it can't be forever.

Lots a swanky new build flats going up Near East Croydon station if that is your thing? Prices significantly cheaper than more central areas of London, and the train will get you fast to Victoria in 15 mins via Clapham Junction incase you need to get pretty much anywhere else in London. 

numbercruncher8

For the very new flats, it won't be, because the HTB thing makes it quite expensive. I think the ones opposite the station front are build-to-rent and not for sale. The old Nestle building has flats coming, but where is the value in this: https://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-68489334.html

The other flats surrounding the station are priced on the high side. Mainly because in my view that their selling prices have gone nowhere since they were finished, and nobody wants to take a loss. You have a lot of one bedrooms sitting obstinately at the £350k mark. To me that isn't great value either. Wandsworth council tax must be around £100 cheaper a month, a Zone 1-2 travelcard is £1,000 a year cheaper than a 1-5.

Then we have some of the older buildings. You have something like this (a new build around 10 years old): https://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-73114084.html - it's been on the market for coming up to 1 year in July, price has varied from £325,000 down to £275,000. It's clearly the price, because older style 1-beds in the similar vicinity of the station are probably under £250k now and don't have high monthly charges.

There has to be some balance, clearly it delivers a quicker commute but around the station isn't a great place. Socialising with friends would be much easier in the other places mentioned.

redefinr

I will be quite honest, I've seen few properties for rent in Croydon for rent last year - there are nice houses and the trains situation is pretty good...but I don't like Croydon as an area. I don't know but there is something that just doesn't make me feel it?

I'm going to give a call to these guys tomorrow:
https://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-70640931.html

Interesting property in Islington (very near King Cross). It thick all my requests, decent space and great positioning. There is quite a massive terrace too - that could be handy for the next pandemic. £350K is a bit high for me, I would take it for 330.