Who would pay nearly £2 mill for this house?

[EachandEveryone]

Well £1.7. I was just having my dreams of Belsize park when I saw this. Its exactly the same as the council house I was brought up in from the outside in the 1970s. No garden although it does look like a nice tidy little estate. Theres a lot of clutter I cant work out what type of people live there www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/110737514#/?channel=RES_BUY

No that is insane. This is what 1.7 million would get you in my area.

www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/112398965#/?channel=RES_BUY

It is a really nice place to live, so near the parks etc. My friends lived in the house next door I think, or next door but one maybe. They loved it, knew their neighbours well, could stroll through the park to restaurants and cafes. Their house was beautiful.

I'd rather have this, it's near me, and commute to London

Wilford Lane, West Bridgford
www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/109136789

@MrsSkylerWhite we are on combined income 70k, we bought a flat for 400k at age 28 and 30 in zone 3 north london. Lived with parents for 3 years to buy it. We are a 10 minute walk from bishops avenue where a house can cost up to £30 million so there are affordable pockets even in the most posh neighbourhoods. I have friends who live in Primrose Hill and they say there is a lot of poverty in the council flats there- problems with substance abuse, addiction, food insecurity. I think average people are more likely to live in Camden which is also very diverse, and i know perfectly ordinary people who own flats there.

But I don't really get why everyone keeps comparing this house to their local area. There was a thing in the metro about a tiny studio flat in the knightsbridge area going for £325, it is literally the size of a shed. It overlooks harrods and harvey nichols. So small is the flat, that Portuguese firm Caiano Morgado, who specialise in space-saving, were brought in with the previous owner to rethink and get the most out of the miniature space.

metro.co.uk/2021/08/11/shed-sized-micro-penthouse-overlooking-harrods-sells-for-325000-15069413/

It was advertised as being suitable for a member of domestic staff for an ultra rich family who lives in a bigger apartment in the same building. It can also be used to store shopping during annual shopping trips to Harrods My Dh hypothesized that it might even be used for affairs and liaisons that a rich man doesn't want his wife to know about!

There were so many commentators who said what £325k could buy in their respective villages/towns which were all nowhere near London, let alone Harrods. There was this lady who commented that it could buy a huge converted farmhouse with acres of land where she lived. I enquired if that was anywhere near Harrods or even any department store selling designer goods. If a person wants to buy a place to store shopping, why would they buy it in rural NE England which is SEVERAL HOURS from Harrods? Likewise for a member of domestic staff, what good is putting their maid in Bolton when they live in Central London... And if they purchased an apartment for liaisons, they can't exactly have a liaison in a mansion in northern england if they live in London right???

Its the same for this house even if its £2 million, not 325k. its also in a very posh neighbourhood, near good private schools and also Regents Park. Yes you can buy a bigger house in the North of England with the same money, but it probably wouldn't fit their requirements. Maybe it would change in the future, but I think for now the majority of people with £2 million budgets still prefer to stay in London and the SE as they are far more likely to have business interests there...

How do young families in average jobs find anywhere decent to live in Greater London now?

They don't

If "decent" means 3 bed plus garden etc

They live in cramped flats
Or flats with open plan kitchen diner which are relatively tiny
Or commute insane hours
Or if lucky get keyworker housing which is also small
Or maybe a nice enough garden flat but nowhere near typical suburban semi type space

@Shudacudawuda I think its quite a good student house. I was an international student before and most parents from my country bought their future doctor children houses/flats as they were staying in UK for minimum 6 years (if not more if they were training here), so better than spending all the money on rent. Its walking distance to Royal Free Hospital and a reasonable 20 min tube journey to UCL.

I had friends who had apartments in Goodge St and Holborn (but were tiny). In some ways this is better cos you can be a student landlord. I had an ex classmate whose parents bought him a pretty big apartment in the Strand area, and he & his 2 brothers all studied in London so it kinda paid for itself. I think it would have been more expensive than this house given that it was in the Strand area but they bought it in 2007, so would be much more expensive now

Otoh living with 3 dc in small London flat is not all bad. Dc got good schooling and support for the two who have needed it for different reasons. Easy access to central London and hampstead heath. It is lifestyle and job choice.

It’s in such a great location. More internal sqft space than you get with some properties in York too….
www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/80207046

@Shudacudawuda

Seriously, how good can a location be? Does living in that part of London really improve your life enough to be worth spending that much on a tiny little house like that? Insanity.

That’s what I’m puzzling over. I can understand paying to not be in a bad or rough area. However, a nice area with big houses for your money are available within minutes of London. How much extra would you pay be in an area just as nice as a cheaper area but just for bragging rights that you live in a popular area.

It is simply the desire to claim living in an area near super wealthy people? So you buy a box for over a million?

It really is insane but it is important to some people.

Madness. The first thing I thought was, well, you can whitewash a council house but it'll still be a council house.

Oh for gods sake, of course it isn’t worth £2 million! That may be the rate, but it’s not worth it.

@Why2why A lot of people who buy in central london these days are not British anymore.

'International buyers purchased 44% of homes in Prime Central London in H1 2019, down from the record high of 58% in H2 2018. The drop-off was mainly caused by a fall in Asian buyers, particularly those from China and Hong Kong who have been impacted by capital restrictions on moving money out of China.'

People from different countries have vastly different standards as to what is 'desirable housing'. When I first came to the UK, the first time I ventured past zone 2 was in my third year of university when I met my DH who lived in zone 3! Some of my classmates had parents who bought them apartments, but they were always in places like Victoria, Holborn and Russell Square, St Johns Wood. Most were very small, as their parents weren't willing to spend more than £1-2 million on a student flat. I had a classmate whose parents bought him a 750k studio flat in Knightsbridge, this was a good 10 years ago, I have never been in it but it probably was not very big.

But yeah for them, their parents would not have wanted to buy anything in Surrey/Bucks given that they have probably never stepped foot in Surrey or have any reason to go to Surrey. I knew a girl who was a medical student in London, her mum was always visiting her during term time and would spend all her days at Oxford St while her daughter was at lectures. Its easy enough to do that when the flat is at Russell Square.

At least Its wealthy Brits who like living in the countryside and suburbs; they would pick places like Beaconsfield and Guildford where you can indeed get a fairly decent house for £1.7 million.

@HalfBrick

I'd be embarrassed paying £1.7m for that.

Me too! I like the twisting stair case but nothing else.

but yes if i had that much money, I probably wouldn't buy that house, I would buy in Muswell Hill (my favourite area in London). I am lucky enough to live within walking distance, really wanted to buy there but had to settle for East Finchley instead due to budget.. Most places in Muswell Hill are a bus ride from the nearest tube station (unless you walk for 20 minutes) but you have a lovely village feel (whilst still being in zone 3 london), good schools, highgate woods & Ally Pally on your doorstep and lots of great shops- independent and chain alike/bars/restaurants/supermarket options/Gail's bakery.

www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/112172636#/?channel=RES_BUY

www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/76343772#/?channel=RES_BUY

@onlychildhamster
If I had that sort of money I would buy something like this:
www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/102876182

But isn't that south of the river @NotAnotherUserNumber?

Disclaimer, I know nothing about the ins and outs of the London property market or neighbourhoods except that I've heard people say that being south of the river is bad in some way.

On the property linked by the OP, it's obviously in a very desirable area and is a house not a flat, is generally quite spacious and has a garden, a roof terrace and a parking space, all adding to the value. The main downsides I can see is that it's not a particularly attractive from the outside and the spiral staircase.

Which proves that no matter how much money you have, there's always compromises to be made. But seeing as there seems to have been a few of those houses in that area regularly selling for that amount of money, it's obviously worth that amount to many.

Lol at 10 miles from Newcastle being the middle of nowhere, NewModelArmy and £1.6M is £100K cheaper than the little box in the OP - plenty to 'high end' the fixtures and fittings a bit

Seriously though, of course that house isn't worth £1.7M.

@JulesJuleshttps://www.rightmove.co.uk/house-prices/nw3/hawtrey-road.html a lot of transactions for 4 bed similar looking houses in that price range.

@NotAnotherUserNumber
I looked at the house you linked to and thought "That's a really good price for that lovely house in Kensington then realised it was Kennington."

I have no idea what Kennington is like but know Kensington prices are off the scale.

Not sure if this will post, but I'd rather have this for the £2 million mark.

search.savills.com/property-detail/gbisrsiss200223

Kennington has some bijou town house type stock (Joanna Lumley has been a resident for years, well before it started gentrifying). BUT it has lots of social housing too. The type of place where you'd not necessarily feel safe walking alone after dark.

I'm not sure if it's dated or professionally decorated

@BarbaraofSeville I made the move south of the river back in 2005 when I bought my flat. It is so much more affordable, partly because so many people shudder at the idea.

@NewModelArmyMayhem18
Joanna Lumley lives in Stockwell. I know because she lives about 5 minutes away from me.
She lives in the really swanky square where houses are about £3 million.
….needless to say that I do not!

Oh well to my mind Stockwell and Kennnington seem like the same neighbourhood. So does she live on the Tube Station side of the crossroads or the heading towards E&C side?