What part of London to buy cheap first flat for DD1?

[BoxedOff]

We can afford to help DD1 onto property ladder. She is 22 and she can raise a mortgage up to £180k, we can give her £50k. Is there anywhere that is nice, fun, well connected for commuting to KingsX area and where you can buy a decent flat for £230k? I am beginning to think there isn’t! We live in London, she was raised here, but not in an area she can afford.

Unless all of her mates live nearby then the buzz of the local area is irrelevant, most young people spend half their time crossing London to meet friends anyway. The well connected is much more important.

This is why I would buy one! There are some desperate sellers out there, you can probably get a bargain. “Buy things that are currently unpopular, avoid what everyone else wants” is generally a good investment principle.

That said, in OP’s daughter’s position, I think I would just live in a flat share for a few years and buy when she’s closer to 30. A flat share somewhere central-ish will be much more fun and sociable then being lonely in your own place out in zone six.

Could she buy with a friend in a similar position with a written legal agreement to sell after 5 years and share equity. She is still so young. In the next 5-10 years she might meet someone who will become her life partner and want to buy with them.

I wouldn’t buy anything just yet. She’s too young to know where she wants to be in the medium term. You don’t want the flat to become a millstone.

Let her live at home for a couple of years, or rent in a shared building with your home as a bolthole. Then she’ll have more of an idea of her career path, where her friends are, etc - and hopefully greater earnings too. I also suspect prices especially for flats are going to drop or at worst stay flat over the next couple of years, so no harm in waiting.

@minipie agree

My first 1 bedroom flat I bought for 250 in Walthamstow 13 years ago

sold in 2021 for 325 and it sold FAST

moved to a 2 bed flat 2022 in Tottenham for 370

just had offer accepted for 435£

I don’t really believe this whole impossible to sell thing all my friends have started in 1 bed flats then they move on and they always sell fast

my building I live in now the 1 beds are always being sold and new people moving in every few years

also I don’t think it really matters too much about area it’s so easy to get around anyway - I’m always all over London for various things meeting different people - always night buses and weekends theirs the tube all night

I’d wait and see what is happening on eg stamp duty, help for young people, direction of interest rates (as those impact
prices and therefore the market). Don’t assume that because something has come off a lot it’s at rock bottom. Flats can go lower, peripheral areas in particular.

Otherwise I’d buy something slightly bigger ideally with a friend

Yes I would look at Maryland - def in budget but rising quickly. Right on the Elizabeth line so very easy to get central from there. Also, parts of Stratford. There is a fast 7 min train from Stratford international to St Pancras.

My son is currently buying his first flat in Brixton together with a friend. He’s 30. Flat is 450k. They’re both very excited…as previous poster said, they have a 5 year agreement written up. I think it’s a great way to get on the property ladder in London

Highams Park? It's not party central but it's super close to Walthamstow for night life and Victoria line to KX, and is a safe place for a single woman to live

https://www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/89465220#/?channel=RES_BUY

If she’s 22 and on 30k sounds like she’s just graduated and in her first proper job. If this is the case pls don’t buy!! The best thing about being in London in your 20s is the living with new friends, moving around and finding where you want to be long term. In a few years she’ll likely be able to get a much bigger mortgage, probably have a partner to buy with and know what she wants. Being candid, any flat in London for under 350k is going to be very scruffy / in a questionable area. Anything you see on rightmove will either be shared ownership or have some reason (eg unmortgageable) its so low. Spareroom and ‘clapham rooms for rent’ on Facebook etc are great places to find shared flats with other people in the same position. Much more fun, cheaper in the long run (shared bills etc) and safer. Most young professionals in London buy nearer 30 for exactly that reason.

Just to add, her mortgage would be over 50% of her salary - add council tax, gas, electric, wifi, service charge, food, commute etc she may really struggle on her own. I’m 28 and just bought in Woolwich with my boyfriend (affordable and on Elizabeth Line but it’s not a young-person area, we sacrificed location as we wanted a house with garden). Majority of my friends are still renting in clapham/ wandsworth/ tooting/ hackney.

I doubt it would be anywhere safe or nice in London. There’s someone on a thread with a flat going for £250k on here In Woolwich (not a great area but where the flat is situated isn’t too bad and a short bus ride to the Crossrail station.

Yeah that area would be good. Also Croydon is popular with young FTB and also has pretty good transport links. At least parts of it.

I agree with pp who says far better to be in a flat share in a better area at this stage than isolated in a not that great part of London or landed with a flat that's hard to sell. I don't think flat prices are rising at the moment, I wouldn't rush

Walthamstow, Chingford and Highams Park all have possibilities. Not amazing, but there is something.

Perhaps wait for the London property market to drop? I would seriously consider waiting till after the budget. If they go through with the land value tax, wealth tax, mansion tax, reform of counsel tax, it could affect an already weak London housing market disproportionately. A lot of other people’s pain, could be your daughter’s gain.

Would you consider something like this?

www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/171927944#/?channel=RES_BUY

If I had a time machine, I would go back to the 70s and buy a mansion for 200K

Forest Hill?

This is cute:

https://www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/90259593#/?channel=RES_BUY.

it is for sale by auction but if she has a mortgage in place it’s probably doable.

Can she get shared ownership and rent out the spare room to a lodger

I’ve heard bad things anecdotally about shared ownership.

Would she be happy with a studio? Is it to get her onto the property ladder?

https://www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/168050714

Is that 197k for 30 per cent? Who owns the rest? Do they charge rent?