Why are houses so much cheaper up north?

[CliveThighs]

OK, I'm aware this is probably a silly question so please don't flame me too much.

But I live in the south east where a 3 bed terrace costs around £350k. Which is crazy high. But somehow my brain has accepted that this is what a house costs.

But I fell down a zoopla/rightmove rabbit hole earlier and realised that up North a 3 bed terrace is about 1/3 of the price.

So what makes the south so much more expensive. I know the theory is London jobs and higher wages in the SE but are wages really that much lower in the North? Surely teachers, nurses, doctors, lawyers get paid roughly the same where ever they are in the country? Minimum wage is the same all over the country, and the vast majority of those living in the SE don't earn these magically high London salaries?

@BlueStripedTowel

For £350k you could have a 4 bed detached new build up in Scotland (surrounding areas of Glasgow)...

And fresher air than living in London.

[quote 3Daddy31982]@CliveThighs curiousity has got the better of me. Where exactly were these cheap as chips terraces.[/quote]
Blackburn www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/118747772

Though who in their right mind would choose to live their I don't know.

I was born in Blackburn and grew up there, it's really grim.

The north is not one humongous area. It's half the country. I really hate the perception people have of 'the north'. It has many areas that vary in price. Lots of desirable areas and lots that aren't so nice and therefore cheaper.

Prices vary a lot, I was looking a couple of years ago before covid hit and it was around £300k for a decent 3 bed house in the ne decent area. Jobs were paying around the same as where I lived before (midlands) but houses were about 30% cheaper like for like. If you are in a job that pays on a national pay scale then it definitely is better not to live in expensive areas

I think the Lakes is officially the most expensive national park in the U.K. to buy property.

You cannot buy a single house in Windermere for £350k. It's all apartments and "lodges" (static caravans).

It's colder, wetter and further from London.

My 3 bed house where I am was £80k, I live in Scotland. I can see the train line for trains going to London. I love my house.

@Socialcarenope

I've lived in both the north and south of England and can't say I noticed much difference in the weather! Grey and crappy in winter wherever you are.

Ain't that the truth!

@Socialcarenope

I think the Lakes is officially the most expensive national park in the U.K. to buy property.

You cannot buy a single house in Windermere for £350k. It's all apartments and "lodges" (static caravans).

There are demonstrably houses for sale in Windermere you just need the national debt to purchase them lol!

I wouldn't want to willingly live in Blackburn.

545k for a house in Windermere. No wonder Tim Farron wants a higher second home tax.

Im a teacher on £40,000 and we are looking to move... we are looking at around £160,000-£180,000 for a large 4 bed victorian terrace/3 bed detached... we are in the north east having moved from a very naice city we grew up in which we could not afford to buy in!

Our current house is a small 3 bed semi with an en suite.. we paid £95,000 in 2013 and its worth £120,000 now.

I paid 400k for my flat in London and for the same money in Didsbury (which is where I would want to live up north), I would just...get a bigger flat. www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/118691426#/?channel=RES_BUY

You have to compare like with like.houses can be very cheap in Luton, but they are cheap for a reason, while nearby St Albans and Harpenden are just as expensive as my zone 3 london suburb; more expensive if you include commuting fares.

And it isn't just the salary for jobs, its job availability. So many people on my team at work aren't from London, they told me its so much harder to find jobs from where they are, while they instantly got jobs in London. I guess most people would prefer to be employed than spend lots of time between jobs. A lot of my colleagues also have friends and family in London that they could rely on too when they moved down too so that mad it an easier choice.

Jeez I think half the people on this thread have never been north of the Watford... "The North" consists of big post industrial cities, smaller historic cities, market towns, seaside resorts, villages and open countryside as well as a multitude of other places.

We're putting our three bed terrace in the central Lakes on the market this week - it's likely to be going on for more than £350k - we're looking for an extra bedroom but it will be a real challenge with our budget - house prices round here are not low.

By the way , the weather is just fine up north thanks - today the Lakes were bathed in glorious sunshine. At one point I considered putting sunglasses on inside as there was so much light in our house.

Perhaps we could ditch the generalisations...although I must confess I do own a whippet.

I was also shocked to find out that my friend in yorkshire had the same total monthly expenses as I did with my £1000 London mortgage (2 bed flat), my £150 per month service charges and 'london life' with lots of shopping and restaurants. But I had no car. This was before she had a baby so it was just her and her DH. She paid £700 to rent a 3 bed terrace. She and her DH had 2 vehicles. They had the usual bills. I could not quite figure it out... She was not the extravagant type as far as I knew. I think she racked up some credit card debt during the pandemic when she didn't work and she seemed to be moving/in between jobs a lot. I don't know if it was her, or if it was because fewer jobs meant that this was more 'normal'.
She also didn't find it easy to get a mortgage.

North east living in a 3 bed semi valued at £150k, would love to move to move but looking at around £280k for a nice 4 bed detached. Maybe one day

I read about a recent study that analysed over 425 UK weather stations. It looked at the “happiest”and “unhappiest” areas based on the total number of sunlight hours an area has over the winter period. The South East is the naturally happiest region in the UK with 8 cities/towns from that region receiving the most hours of natural sunlight. Yorkshire and the East & West Midlands are the naturally unhappiest regions in the UK with only 1 place from each region making it into the list. The weather can be hugely different in some parts of the country, I guess a sunnier / warmer climate in the more southern areas influences where people want to live too.

I live in a cute little town in Yorkshire and the prices are skyrocketing at the moment. We have a lot to do: cute bars; lots of nice restaurants; cocktails bars etc and lots for young families like well-kept parks, a library, several soft play centres etc. But transport is almost non-existent so impossible to get out or around if you don't drive. Renting a 1 bed flat here will set you back around 850pcm which is what I was paying to live in Wimbledon about 10 years ago.

Council tax and public transport costs are much higher outside of London. Eating out often is too, at least for comparable places that aren't chains.

Yawn. It’s blatantly obvious that some areas of the north are just nicer places to live in so command higher property prices, others are absolute dumps with dying town centres, poor schools, frightening lack of opportunities for young people. Vast majority of us can’t afford to live in desirable places like Skipton or Harrogate. They are as off limits to us as places in London and the S/E are.
Yes there are pockets of affluence even in some of the most deprived post industrial towns but folk don’t really chose to live there. You’ll notice that even those priced out of the S/E go to the more desirable locations which tbf is pretty galling.

I'm in the north west - a three bed terrace with a garden here is less than 100k. Our two bed plus garden was 60k.

But it's a rural, coastal town with few amenities and poor public transport. You really do need a car to live here as there are no buses and the trains only go up and down the coast - so if you need to get inland you're fucked.

I love it as we're right on the coast and we have miles of deserted beaches on our doorstep but we have no chain shops except supermarkets, no fast food restaurants, no Starbucks, no cinema, no bowling, no soft play or swimming pool within half an hours drive.

It's also friendly, has an excellent sense of community and is very dog friendly - it's also lots of peoples idea of hell

There’s north and there’s north.

A 3 bed terrace in a part of the city “up North” where I’d want to live is about £350k.

You can get a 3 bed terrace in a former pit village with shite transport links, no local amenities and no local employment for £70k but I don’t want to live there.

I’d say a more interesting question is why are some, scattered around the country, so expensive. The market really isn’t even trying to pretend that it is affordable for working people. Occasionally propaganda is put out, but we all know that life is harder for those who have no family support and a two-tier society has been recreated.

Companion questions are why have we all allowed inequalities to grow to these levels, and will the growth ever be stopped and reduced.

@lightnesspixie

Erm ... weather? 🙈

Skins waterproof........ stop being mard !

£350? Not in my area of the SE - but that's the point isn't it - as others have said there are plenty of places 'up North' that are overpriced / inflated as well