Zone 1-3 people, where do you live?

[msrisotto]

And do you earn millions and millions? Or live in the tiniest of flats?? I would love to live in zones 1-3 and have money that would buy me a palace in some places but sadly not in London....

[cassell]

South east london is the best bet for affordable (for London) property IMO. Places like Brockley, Forest Hill, Nunhead, Ladywell - all zone 2/3, family areas with nice parks. I certainly don't earn millions and we have a house. What's your budget?

[christinarossetti]

North east also a possibility eg Walthamstow, South Tottenham. 'Affordable' within London prices of course.

[Mintyy]

I live in SE London. By sheer good luck we have found ourselves living in a posh part (was not posh when we came here in 1996) but we will have to move to a less posh part if we want to go from a 3 bed to a 4 bed. But actually I'm quite looking forward to that as our posh part has become very bland and a bit up its own arse quite frankly.

We don't earn millions but did have the enormous advantage of getting on the housing ladder in the 90s when ALL property everywhere was a hell of a lot more affordable.

[Goodwordguide]

We're in SW London and are definitely not millionaires. We have a small but nice 3-bed house. I agree with minty, the proces of 3-beds aren't so bad, the leap to a 4-bed seems to be stratospheric and is one of the reasons we're moving out.

We bought 7 years ago and prices have risen considerably since then.

I would start with schools you want/can get into (if relevant), and work backwards.

[FreudiansSlipper]

I live in nice part of se London

On a busy road a a biggish flat with nice garden

no I do not earn million rent is high rather it was going towards a mortgage but would not move away from here i love it

[VinegarDrinker]

We live in Hackney. 3 bed 2 storey maisonette with small garden was 305k 2 yrs ago. We love it and wouldn't live anywhere else :) (I don't even ever want to leave our street!)

Lots of our friends have moved out to Walthamstow, you can get a house there, although not in the trendy bits.

Agree that SE London gives you best value for money though.

[EllenParsons]

I live in north London zone 2, near highbury and islington. Rent is fairly expensive (we pay £1400 PCM for a 2 bed flat). Can't afford to buy here.

[TuttoRhino]

We live in Zone 3 in SE London in a house. It was on the expensive side as we bought recently. However it was much cheaper than buying elsewhere such as our old neighbourhood in Zone 2.

[bigTillyMint]

Zone 2 - got a 4 bed house in 99 which is now worth more than 4 times what we paid for it but we have no intention of moving

[TantrumsAndBalloons]

North. £1300 3 bed house. Can't afford to buy here though. :(

[Muser]

Agree with Cassell, SE is still reasonable, Lewisham Borough has lots of nice bits and up-and-coming bits. Forest Hill etc are getting pricier, Hither Green and Lee are more reasonable and I think are on the up.

[Pleasenomorepeppa]

North. Renting a tiny Key Worker flat for £960pm next to a tube station. It's expensive & crowded with a nearly 4yo & 8wk old, but I love the area & my baby friends I made with DD1. I'm not ready to move yet.
Definitely can't afford to buy .

[jammybean]

East. Warehouse conversion. It's a little pocket of lovelyness next to the Thames. Really well connected. Lots of green space and lovely river walks. 15 minutes into Liverpool st. 20 mins into the West End. We don't earn millions.

The average 1 Bed, 700sqft flat is 500k. 2 beds are 680+. Schools are not great unless you go private.

We hesitated buying a 2 bed in our block 19 months ago, were still kicking ourselves as we're now priced out of the area. We'll be moving out of London in a few weeks.

[crazyhead]

North (doer upper house in Crouch End). Me and OH bought separately in early 2000s and have good but not stellar wages. Average house price round here is 800k plus, insane.

I think if you look at younger (we're in our 30s) people who have a decent house in London it is often a combination of parental help, buying very early and moving/leveraging more debt early and good income. You'd just have to have a freakishly high income to get away with not having help/having climbed the housing ladder. Goodness knows what people in their mid 20s without help will do.

There are cheaper and really decent places in SE London and also Tottenham, Wood Green etc are better value up North. I've mainly lived in much cheaper areas than we do now and they were just fine. What's hard to combine is the cafe and and deli lifestyle with any sort of space.

[lalalonglegs]

SW, zone 2 - bought a very decrepit maisonette and extended and renovated it. Bought six years ago - would like to move to get a garden but the jump seems to be about 500k to a house of equivalent size.

[gilly86]

We live in SE London zone 3.
2 (and a half) bedroom house in a quiet Victorian terrace.
10 mins to London bridge on south eastern train. 12-15 mins to charing cross.

We used to live in Camden town... We miss it but are saving so much money now and have a house instead of a studio flat!

[HolyMackerel]

Another one here who is most definitely nowhere near a millionaire, but owns a large 3 bed house in SE London, Forest Hill/Catford area. Zone 3, fab transport links, lots of great space, good schools, great people round here

[ScreamingFoxtrots]

We live on zone 1/2 borders which is the latest regeneration zone at last so it's becoming quite expensive to buy property round here. Fortunately DH bought whilst it was still a long way from "up and coming" so we're not saddled with a huge mortgage for our lovely flat (3 beds, roof terrace, two parking spaces).

Three bed houses in this neck of the woods have just gone through the £500k mark, which is cheap for somewhere so central.

I used to hate it so much here, but recently have really fallen in love with the area. The amenities aren't great (yet) but we're 25 minutes walk from Victoria and Westminster and can be in Covent Garden in 15 minutes on the bus. It's so convenient.

[dinkystinky]

We're in Zone 2 NW London - have a house but both good earners and got on the ladder a while ago in a flat in a more desirable area of London and the equity from that helped us buy the hosue. House prices are insane where we are now.

South East London, zone 3, on overland, much more affordable - we have friends who live down there.

[herbaceous]

Walthamstow, zone 3. 20 minutes to West End on tube, 15 mins to the city on the train. Three-bed Victorian house. You can get a three-bed house round these parts for £350K.

Not many millionaires round here.

Small mortgage, because I was lucky and bought my old flat in the late 90s, for £65K, and sold it seven years later for £235K. It was in Dalston, which has now gone bonkers.

ScreamingFoxtrots I'm intrigued about where you live. Vauxhall?

[WhataSook]

Zone 3, SW London. Definitely not millionaires!

Live in an end of terrace, 2 bedroom house. Love it (but mostly love my garden )! The area gets slatted but I like it and its really handy and our mortgage is nearly £500 a month cheaper than when we rented in W12, tiny flat with no outside space.

I think screaming lives in Battersea?

[herbaceous]

But Battersea (South Chelsea) has long since up and come!

[ScreamingFoxtrots]

We call it Nine Elms now herbaceous

I am so excited about all the stuff that is coming here - not least the tube station 3 minutes walk from my front door. I think, as long as you're not buying one of the millions of new build flats you can still pick up a decent property without paying through the nose. It won't be long before you can't.

[herbaceous]

Vauxhall Nine Elms is remarkably central. Though you do have to be careful of falling helicopters. Or is it too soon for that sort of joke?

[ScreamingFoxtrots]

We missed it as we were out of the country - DH was gutted as he could have been the man-on-the-ground for the newspaper he works on.

I'm working on lightning never striking twice and therefore we are less likely to suffer a falling helicopter again (not too soon for jokes, but need to say that people did die and it is tragic, but there is black humour to be had).