To stay in London?

[sofiaaaaaa]

I’m 24 and work in finance. Lived in London since 2015, so coming up to 6 years of high monthly rent/bills, which is a decent % of my income. I don’t have any financial support from my parents - I even had to work full time whilst at university full time to support myself.

Almost everyone my age seems to be buying/saving for their first house, meanwhile I’m struggling to build up remarkable savings whilst renting here and feel behind in life.

I love London, it’s home and I felt quite down when l lived elsewhere during uni summer break. The expenses are probably stunting my life progression though to the point that I may have to “grow up” and forget about the London dream?

Everyone I care about is in London, so if I move somewhere cheaper I would have to completely start afresh, which is daunting! What would you do? Where would you move to? (Living at my parent’s home isn’t an option btw!)

Secondment overseas

Move to a cheaper area of London.if you love London and it feels like home then I would stay in your shoes. You are still very young and your career could progress further and you could earn more in the future. Rents are apparently going down at the moment so you might find it more affordable to rent in 2021

You're 24
Live where you want

Stay in London. You’re only 24 - so young! Save, save, save and explore Help to Buy and Shared Ownership in zone 3/4. That’s how single friends of ours managed to buy in London.

If you work in finance then the only other good place in the U.K. for finance jobs is Edinburgh, maybe Bournemouth at a stretch.

But if you like London and all your friends are here I wouldn’t move away. There are still cheaper flats to buy in Lewisham/Croydon etc.

Enjoy the city and all the fun things on offer after the pandemic. Save lots and you should be able to buy by the time you’re 30 or so- which is still young, I promise!

Seriously? You are 24. Who are these people who are saving up house deposits at that age? Live! Add to your savings while Covid is keeping you at home but once live is normal again - go dancing, go to gigs, concerts, theatre, comedy, fashion shows, art exhibitions, new restaurants, go boating on the Thames and swimming in the Serpentine. Spend your money on life. It's heartbreaking to think of people so young stifling their desires to live just to save up for a house. You probably have another six or seven decades on this planet. Spend at least one of them while you are young and free, doing exactly what you want, not what others do or what you think you should do.

With London rental prices, people don’t generally have a house deposit saved up by 24 unless they’ve come into inheritance, lived at home for cheap or have financial support from family. You’re definitely not an outlier!

Do what you want to do, and what feels right. Try to save if you can but have fun too.

at 24 I got a shared ownership property in London, allowed me to save a lot more than renting and benefit from the ever increasing london property prices. finally decided to cash in and leave in my 30s.

This was me at your age. I agree with PP - shared ownership all the way (get a second hand place on one of the older schemes - the new ones are a rip off) Mine was amazing and allowed me to save a big deposit without parental help.

Omg I wish I was 24
Enjoy yourself! Move around! Go overseas for a bit! See the world! Or if you love London, enjoy it... Stop torturing yourself with comparisons. Life is short.
God knows if you have kids there will be 2 decades of your life where you are tied down. Now is the time to rent a room or garrett somewhere fabulous and enjoy life, travel, freedom... "Life progression", "Grow up", "feel behind in life".. pah.

@Labobo

Seriously? You are 24. Who are these people who are saving up house deposits at that age? Live! Add to your savings while Covid is keeping you at home but once live is normal again - go dancing, go to gigs, concerts, theatre, comedy, fashion shows, art exhibitions, new restaurants, go boating on the Thames and swimming in the Serpentine. Spend your money on life. It's heartbreaking to think of people so young stifling their desires to live just to save up for a house. You probably have another six or seven decades on this planet. Spend at least one of them while you are young and free, doing exactly what you want, not what others do or what you think you should do.

I agree with all of this

DD is 24 and has moved out of London to Chelmsford. She had enough of house sharing after experiencing lockdown and sharing an apartment with 4 people all working from home so they each had to work from their bedroom. She wanted her own space and knew that would be a struggle in London. She has moved to a 2 bed modern flat, she wanted the extra bedroom for when we hopefully get back to normality and she can have friends stay over.

She previously lived in a penthouse in Surrey Quays overlooking Canary Wharf so it wasn't very budget friendly and her commute was about 50 mins. Now her commute is slightly shorter even though she is in a different county. She lives 5 mins from the station and it is a 35min journey to Liverpool St Station a few mins from her office. Even though her travel will be a bit more and she has more bills it still works out cheaper.

She has been working from home since March and it looks like she will continue to do so for at least the next 3 months so she saving even more at the moment.

The trains run to Chelmsford until past midnight so if she wants to meet friends for dinner and a catch up she can still do that and if she wanted a night out in the city she would sleep over at her friends flat.

Live in London, there's nowhere like it. And I know you could buy a five-bedroom detached house elsewhere for the price of a poky flat - but unless you're a Mrs Hinch who enjoys mopping floors, you'd soon find that there's precious little else to do. Another few months and London will be buzzing again. There's vast tracts of this country where you'd hardly notice whether they're locked down or not!

You are young enjoy your life in London

Don't waste your young life fretting over these sorts of things. Save what you can and enjoy life.

@katy1213 London is fun for a while but I think you need to get out more.. you have a bit of an odd view of the rest of the country that has a lot more to offer than that

I’m a few years older than you, we have no plans to leave London. Absolutely love it, there’s nowhere else I can imagine myself living in the U.K right now (personal choice, I know many other places are lovely).

Try and save for a flat as your first step. Some areas they will be around £300k to 350k in a decent area. See that as a stepping stone into the property market and to move away from paying rent. Work your way up to a house.

I agree with lots of others, enjoy your life in London. You don’t need to settle down yet, and you’ve still got plenty of time to enjoy your life, so much could change, you could earn a lot more, meet a partner and decide to buy together, work abroad, all sorts of things.
I took a year out to travel aged 30, by then I had an established career to come back to, I’m so glad I did it.

Also live in London, moved here for uni almost 30 years ago. I went through the similar in my 20’s (up to my eyes in debt, no family help or support, and no chance of buying), and I’d say stay. You may not feel like it today, but you’re so young, you’ve got years to build up savings to buy, whether that’s through shared ownership or with a friend/partner. You’ll find a way to make it work.

In the meantime, shop around further out zones3+, do you share or are you renting alone? If the latter, consider doing a house share for a few years to save costs. There’s one advertised near me, double room leading onto a beautiful garden, all bills etc included for £550, and just 20 mins to zone 1. But if your friends are here, are you keen to stay living near them or would you consider moving just that little bit further out?

And honestly I don’t know of anyone in our extended circle who bought a property in London before 30 apart from one who only bought with a significant donation from her parents.

I don’t need to tell you, but you really do have everything on your doorstep here and so much to do, and see and experience, and London is the finance capital so you’re in the best place for your career. Don’t leave OP!

Barely anyone in London owns a property at 24.

They are living in house shares, hopefully with great mates (but probably also sometimes randoms some of whom become friends and some who become stories) and having lots of adventures, nights out, culture, drinks in strange underground bars, eating amazing food, going to theatre, warehouse parties, urban junkyard crazy golf, five a side football, rave-arobics and other strange workouts.

Don't move to some dull commuter town just because your friends from school are buying new build boxy houses on the outskirts of your old home town.

Live your life

I wouldn't leave London if I were you. I would just look to move to somewhere cheaper so I could save more for a deposit. If the governement scheme still running for first time buyers where you save moeny and they give you x amount? Something like that - look in to it.

Your still young, I moved to London when I was 23. I love it however it was different times, I bought my first flat when I was 27 and house took longer as property prices went through the roof. Its hard for younger people to get on the property ladder in London. However you could explore options to buy in zone 4 and 5 with good transport links. Thats the joys of London as you can live somewhere and its 15 mins into the city.