Can the last poor* person to leave London please take their kids with them.

[fakenamefornow]

WTAF is going on with house prices? I want to move to London but it seems impossible.

I think Surrey's going to be next to remove all traces of the poor.

• By poor I mean anyone on average income or below, so actually, just not rich.

Yep

I have a friend who bought in Brixton, he sold his flat one year later at £100K more than he paid.

Moving government out of London -- this may not work in practice. They tried doing this in Washington a while back, it did not go so well.

What happened?

Reading with interest as I grew up in Dartford (obvs not London but close enough to be affected by house prices - I moved out aged 18 and could never move back if I wanted to).

Why move government out of London? How would that help? So government workers have to forcibly relocate to another part of the country or try to find another job? I'm curious as to how that would solve anything. Look at the problems the BBC had when they moved to Manchester. Central government should be in the capital.

Basically when they worked out how much it would cost to physically move agencies plus buy out existing employees who didn't want to move plus hire new people (considering it's civil service so lots of HR bureaucracy) the cost savings diminished. Plus there was massive resistance from the agencies and the unions. Proximity = influence, no one wants to be shipped away.

I think they have managed to disperse new agencies better, but moving existing ones is tricky. Look how much the BBC has spent moving just parts of itself to Salford.

The thing is I am now quite attached to our area. It's not that posh but it is expensive.

All my family live on the other side of the world. I have built up strong community roots over the 15 years I have lived in this part of London, am involved via the school and other groups.

I live in a one bed Shared Ownership (SO) flat. All I want is a 2nd bedroom as I have 2 fast growing children. But this seems to be ridiculously unobtainable.

There are new SO developments in our area but you need a combined income of £66 to even think about it. Even with the equity from my current flat compensating in part for being a lone parent, I still can't afford it.

I can't do a big commute to work & I don't like to be too far away from my young DC. I need to be able to get to them for emergencies, doctor visits etc.

Ha ha have just looked up my flat in glasgow on zoopla - it's gone up
£5,000 folks! In 2 years

oops £66K of course (I wish £66)

Moving Gov out of London isn't just about saving money though it's about redistributing wealth and making teh country more balanced. Also I don't think it's a bad idea to move MPs to the shit part of the country

Government workers are (on the whole) not the wealthy though fake. MPs are different of course but they're a minority in the scheme of things. The biggest issue as already said are rich individuals buying property that they have no intention of living in.

And YABU alone for suggesting that outside of London is the 'shit part of the country'.

Government workers are (on the whole) not the wealthy though fake

I know, but they do have a job and some disposable income, that income might be better spent up north.

Also I believe they have whole streets, estates even, of empty derelict council houses in some parts of the country. Do them up a bit and they would make perfect second homes for MPs while sitting.

That's massive generalisation there by presuming they have 'some disposable income'. How do you know?

And even by moving central government somewhere else would be like sticking a plaster on a gaping wound. It's not going to get even close to solving the problem with London housing.

When DP worked in a central london council his HR manager commuted in from Belfast. But that's probably another issue. I think Local government should be made up of local people.

Moving government is a bad idea, they need to be in London to have influence, they aren't actually paid that much. Throwing money at just one of the big banks to move out might have a much bigger effect...

Oops, haven't been online for a bit, sorry to those that asked questions.

3-bed in Forest Hill for less than £250k, £25k deposit. When we got the mortgage we were each earning exactly £30k p.a.

So it can be done, and not on crazy salaries either.

Forest Hill is a really nice, leafy area of SE London, near lots of lovely parks and with great transport links to Central London.

Sybil I think you were lucky. Forest Hill has rocketed in price over the past year or so.

Here's what's available in terms of 3 beds for under £250k.
www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/find.html?searchType=SALE&locationIdentifier=OUTCODE^2324&insId=1&radius=0.0&displayPropertyType=&minBedrooms=3&maxBedrooms=&minPrice=&maxPrice=250000&retirement=&partBuyPartRent=&maxDaysSinceAdded=&includeSSTC=true&_includeSSTC=on&sortByPriceDescending=&primaryDisplayPropertyType=&secondaryDisplayPropertyType=&oldDisplayPropertyType=&oldPrimaryDisplayPropertyType=&newHome=&auction=false

Not exactly loads of options, one being cash buyers only. The others being mostly ex-council flats. 3 beds are normally 400k+, houses even more.

I admit is it lovely and leafy.

AND............, house prices in London are now falling.....

it's official, i had noticed it myself, having been to a couple of viewings last month, considering moving closer to DCs school - I had realised the prices are significantly cheaper this month.

But industry statistics are now being reported as down 1% across the whole of London over the last 4 WEEKS!!!!, and down up to 5% in some areas, including Kennsington and Chelsea, and some orther less affluent areas i don't remember.

That's massive generalisation there by presuming they have 'some disposable income'. How do you know?

Of course they're going to have some disposable income, even if it's only £1 per month for a mars bar. Even if they don't have a single spare penny and all their money goes on essentials, food/accommodation costs/utilities at least two of those three will benefit the local economy some.

Right so shifting workers from one part of the country to another, away from support networks, their schools etc etc is going to solve the London housing problem and bring more to other local economies because these new workers can prop it up by buying mars bars.

Sorry fake, no disrespect but thats just bollocks. No offence

fakename are you actively hoping to move back here or just gnashing your teeth that you can't?

Hello

me again, in case you didn't hear me, London house prices are falling!

Official!

Y'know it's not just London?

Our 3 bed ex local authority semi in a small south west market town cost us £245k and our wages are probs about 40% less than the equivalent role on London would be

We wanted to stay for family and, well, because it's our homebuyer we're crushed by the cost of living. We have to have two cars, there's no public transport and we have to commute to the nearest large town for work. We have one, small expensive supermarket, I paid £10.40 for a pint of Stella and glass of wine in our local last weekend. It's tough in lots of places