To think it should be possible to buy a decent place to live in London for £750k?

[Socrates67]

We have been looking at the market for a while now and are ready to pay up to £750k for the right property, but there seems to be nothing available within that price range. Sorry to moan and I know that it's a first world problem, but the prices seem ridiculous.

We would like a 2 bedder in or near WC1/NW1/EC1/SE1, ideally if not in a period building then one that isn't a high rise and with a bit of character and a bit of outside space - balcony, small patio garden or whatever.

Am I being unrealistic? Who can afford these prices? Certainly not most people, I am guessing.

Anyway, rant over and I would be grateful for any advice as to where we might look where we can hopefully achieve what we are looking for without going too far out of the centre. In an ideal world, I would like to be walking distance of theatre land/the south bank. Maybe Bermondsey would be an option, but it seems a bit isolated. Also Lambeth North, but according to the press it is full of gangs.

There are no DC involved in the decision so schools irrelevant, not that I suppose that it makes it any easier......

Houseboat maybe? Can't believe that a houseboat can cost three quarters of a million quid! I commuted from here in Suffolk where £750k would basically buy you a lavish pad. Still, each to their own, good luck.

www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-53026436.html

That's a very restricted area you've given yourselves though. "Lambeth North" is just the name of the tube station, not the actual area. There are some lovely streets around there, Kennington (near the Imperial War Museum), Oval etc. Not too far to walk to south bank.

But really, as so many have said, just look a bit further afield in zone 2. It's less than 10 minutes on the train from where I am to central London.

Not bollocks at all. How the hell do average and low income people manage if those with access to large sums of money can't afford a relatively modest home?

I live in a street in Manchester where that money could get you six houses with money to spare so I am well aware that central London is not the whole world. It doesn't bother me because I am sympathetic to the op in particular, it bothers me because it illustrates the massive inequality in the country and is indicative of the sheer insanity of the housing market.

I'd love to live in central London but it is zone 1 that suffers most from the obscene price skewering caused by the foreign btl "investors".

Having said that, my friend lives in a 4 bed flat just off Borough High Street which is worth a lot less than £750,000. Ex-council though, in a block.

I agree with others that you need to spread your net a bit more widely. London Zone 1 is some of the most expensive property on the planet with people paying silly money for a parking space let alone somewhere to live. You might find something in Belsize Park or West Hampstead.

I'm confused - there are plenty of 2BR places in NW1 for less than £750k. CBA to check but I suspect you can find them in those other postcodes as well.

alltouched
A 2 bed flat doesn't cost ??750K in the whole of London. The OP is looking right in the centre of London which is a different world when it comes to buying property.

There is a genuine problem with the cost of property in London with some areas being largely made up of high value property and social housing with very little available for those in the middle.

www.realestateview.com.au/Real-Estate/105-milan-terrace-aldgate/Property-Details-buy-residential-9297750.html

You could buy this in Adelaide....

Actually, if you have a look at Pimlico there are quite a few options, op.

www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-50591261.html

This is lovely

Yes I linked to one upthread mellowjello.

We live in zone 1 although we bought a few years ago when it was a bit cheaper, but there are currently 2 bed flats nearby which are selling for less than £750k. It certainly is enough to buy a two bedroom flat, a quick search will tell anyone that. We're on comfortable incomes but we're certainly not rich. If OP only needs a 2 bed and has no dc then she shouldn't have to settle for going outside zone 1 on her budget (although the period property/outside space is a bit restrictive - our flat is newbuild with no outside space but that suits us fine).

The richest people in the whole world want to live where you're looking so unless your wallet can match them then look in lovely zone 2 areas instead.

Well, you're being very unrealistic in thinking you can buy in central London for that price!

The Harleyford Road one is on a 3 or maybe 4 lane traffic road, mind you!

I've just looked at street view, the third lane is just a bus lane. Looks quite a nice road

Could you look at Essex (Thurrock, Grays etc), they are on the C2C line and it takes about 40 minutes to get into London. You could easily get a four bed house and have at least £200K left over.

There are lots of properties that match your description in that price range but you need to be a lot less selective with area.

Lots is available in zone 2.

In my area of zone 2 that budget would get you a four/five bed Victorian house in good order with nice garden and good school catchment area. Good transport links too.

Life doesn't end outside of zone one

Yes, andyone, unless the OP is saying NW1 when she means Marylebone, between £550k and £750k is a very normal price for NW1. There's lots in that range in the large area north of Camden Town/King's Cross.

Lambeth North is not "full of gangs". Ha. You either like a London vibe or you don't, but being put off a perfectly good area by bollocks in the press is daft. Fair enough if you'd been to a flat and it was patently in the middle of a rough estate where you'd be afraid to walk home at night. But those places are few and far between really. Most of London is a good mix, and often posher areas can be less safe. Lambeth North is fab, much of Bermondsey is too, can't really go wrong following that stretch along the river. YABU - if you search, you will get somewhere and be living the dream quite frankly!

We live in a very quiet area, houses about 500k for a five bed home and large garden, 40 mins from London.

Jeffs, I go on that road on the bus a lot. Believe me it isn't a nice road, it is a main road leading to Vauxhall Cross, one of the biggest traffic intersections in London - up there with Hyde Park Corner and Elephant & Castle in respect of volume of traffic thundering around.

That might not be unacceptable to the OP though Mintyy. Our zone 1 flat is on a main road close to a big traffic intersection. Lots of roadworks, sirens and motorbikes but we've just got used to it, and see it as part of inner city life.

Harleyford Road is pretty grim. For that much money I wouldn't want to live there! Not simply busy, which it is, but just - grim.

I'm with Mintyy on the Harleyford Road house - it's a horrendously busy road all day and all night. Plenty of stuff on surrounding streets would be ideal (I live 1/4 mile away) but that's such a busy, noisy road that I wouldn't live there. There's lots of tinkering going on at Vauxhall Cross at the moment too so it'd be hellish for roadworks and traffic jams for the foreseeable and beyond

I'd go for Shad Thames. Those lovely old wharf buildings or newer builds. Gorgeous stroll up the riverbank into town... sigh, drifts into fantasy...

www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-34722555.html?premiumA=true

www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-36221409.html