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Original poster

I hate London property prices

165 replies

Lolaredingfield10 · 30/09/2016 16:00

I was born, raised and still live in Uxbridge, Greater London.

DH and I have been saving up for a mortgage for years. Our Budget is £250,000

We have 2 DC under 10, we'd like a 3 bed semi with a garden in Uxbridge, even Hayes would be fine but the prices are all £400,000 +

The best we can get with our money is a 2 bed flat in our area and it's utterly depressing.

We don't want to leave London, I don't understand how anyone can afford these prices but Houses are being snapped up.

Surely this can't last. We can't decide between trying to save up for a bigger deposit and waiting a few more years or just settling somewhere else in England.

OP posts:
JassyRadlett · 01/10/2016 20:11

It pisses me off, my in laws are always on about how 'cheap' this area is. Not when 40K is highly paid it isn't.

I get that, but the ratio of average earnings to house prices is much higher in London than other parts of the country.

And £200k salary? Seriously? Assuming that was a joke...

BlancheBlue · 01/10/2016 20:13

jassy no its just how SOME people think about London that all who live there are all on monster salaries, which is way off the truth.

daisypond · 01/10/2016 20:40

T4 - my job is specialised and the only companies with my job are in London. I earn the national (not London) average, not megabucks, and my job doesn't pay London weighting. London house prices are insane. I see the huge amount of building going on all over the place for "luxury apartments" for sale at crazy prices and my blood boils.

JassyRadlett · 01/10/2016 21:00

jassy no its just how SOME people think about London that all who live there are all on monster salaries, which is way off the truth.

I'm guessing the tiny number on £200k aren't struggling to buy their first place!

NameChanger22 · 01/10/2016 22:53

Blancheblue - I got the fast non-stop train from Leicester to London last week and it took 40 minutes.

BlancheBlue · 01/10/2016 23:03

You are mistaken. The fastest timetabled journey between Leicester and London is 1 hr and 6 mins. Unless your train was 26 minutes early which would be unusal.

NameChanger22 · 02/10/2016 00:05

I've just checked the timetable, and you're right, the quickest train is 1 hour and 5 minutes. The train we were on left a bit late and arrived 10 minutes early. Since when did British trains stick to exact times?

Basicbrown · 02/10/2016 07:27

Jassy the average salary in London is much higher. Of course 200K is highly paid, not average but lots of people earn a lot of money in London and many will earn that. That is why the prices are high. Of course that doesn't help you if you don't earn lots and just want to live there. But you'd likely still earn less if you moved elsewhere in the country.

The interesting thing is that I don't live in London and the job I do is London centric. So it is likely in the near future I will have to do something else instead. The attitude that people outside London don't understand labour market limitations in their own area is just odd. People have to adapt to their own local area in order to work.

JeanGenie23 · 02/10/2016 07:35

My job doesn't have to be in London, but that's where i chose to be and I love it. My dd also has an incredible life, much more so than if I was still in Wolverhampton, the midlands can easily fit the discription of stinky and grey as well you know Hmm

T4 and poisonous I'm sure you both thought you were being witty writing posts like that, but it's just goady and actually you are both wrong.

DameDiazepamTheDramaQueen · 02/10/2016 07:40

I live nowhere near London and you can't get a nice house for 250k so to expect one in London is rather odd to say the least

Well , yes quite. £250 would've got you a 2 bed flat in SE London ten years ago.

We wanted a house in London, we couldn't afford it so we moved. There's plenty off places I want to live but can't because I can't afford to.

DameDiazepamTheDramaQueen · 02/10/2016 07:41

**of

Basicbrown · 02/10/2016 07:50

The OP is actually trying to buy round Uxbridge though. Tbh a quick look at rightmove tells me it's staggeringly expensive as it's hardly in the thick of things (I've been once and don't remember it particularly fondly)

user1474781546 · 02/10/2016 08:01

Too many people living in such a small area.
My home cost me £210 thousand last year.
I live in a large 5 bedroom house with 2 huge reception rooms, dining room, a garden, surrounded by woodland, quiet area, 18 minutes to the heart of the capital.
Bliss.

AndShesGone · 02/10/2016 08:08

18 minutes? Where? Confused I can't think of anywhere in Kent/Essex/Croydon where you can get a 5 bed for £210

Your place sounds like the Holy Grail Grin

Ifailed · 02/10/2016 08:13

I'm guessing the tiny number on £200k aren't struggling to buy their first place!
for a joint income, that's not unusual. Average London salary is £34.5k, but that will be 'pulled down' by a lot of people struggling by on minimum wage contracts. People working in 'professional' roles (IT, finance, legal etc) will be on around £60-70k.
If you are contracting, then £100k would almost be a minimum. When I was working in an office, we would bite your hand off if you offered to do contracting work for 'only' £2k a week.

user1474781546 · 02/10/2016 08:14

I can't think of anywhere in Kent/Essex/Croydon where you can get a 5 bed for £210

There probably isn't.
I can be inside Harvey Nichols 20 minutes from my house.

ToastDemon · 02/10/2016 08:15

AndShesGone I think that's referring to the Scottish capital not London.

Basicbrown · 02/10/2016 08:16

I can be inside Harvey Nichols 20 minutes from my house.

I think you might be Harry Potter.

AndShesGone · 02/10/2016 08:22

Oh you mean Edinburgh. Right.

Ginmakesitallok · 02/10/2016 08:25

Do you have your own helicopter user?

Ifailed · 02/10/2016 08:26

Oh you mean Edinburgh. Right
Doubt it, could be anywhere in the world, and the 18 minutes could be by helicopter.

SummerSazz · 02/10/2016 08:26

My job would be primarily found in London. But we couldn't afford what we wanted so moved 2 hrs away from family and friends. We love it here and I managed to get a job in my specialism (albeit lower paid than if I was in London) . I know people don't want to move away from the place they know and love but that's the trade off isn't it?

user1474781546 · 02/10/2016 08:26

ginmakesit- no why?

DinosaursRoar · 02/10/2016 08:26

Op - I do feel sorry for you, we were in London looking at what should have been a healthy budget 7 years ago (£400k), but realised that would still only buy us a flat in the area we were living (Blackheath), so moved out of London to a commuter town in Kent.

We were luckier in a way as neither DH or I are from London originally, so we didn't have the same ties to the area.

If you really are wedded to the area, would you consider getting a buy to let with your deposit that at least will mean you are slowly buying a property you could sell later to get a bigger deposit for a family home and continue to rent?

Otherwise I'd be looking at houses on decent commutes back in for work, sometimes being physically further out, but on a fast train link gives you shorter journey times that just moving to the edges of London and needing to get on trains back in that stop everywhere. (Also everywhere with a decent commute to London is full of ex-Londoners who've been priced out)

user1474781546 · 02/10/2016 08:28

Yes it's Edinburgh. I have a train station very close to my home, 18 minutes to the heart of the city.

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