Who is living in London?

[Theredbears]

I am a mother to 3 children, all in their mid - late teens, and a whole bundle of DN who are out of uni and are working.

The common complaint most of the DN who are working is how difficult it is to get into the housing ladder. These are bright, motivated and hardworking people.

One DN is in her late 20s and is working as a teacher, with a net pay approx £2.5k - gross is £43k but after tax, student loan and pensions. After rent, bills, food etc she has approx £700 to save towards her deposit.
Even a basic flat in around her area will set her back £350k which will be a struggle.

This leads me to my next question, if ateacher cannot afford a basic flat in London, who is living in London? People who purchased their house 20 -30 years ago?. Where are London's police officers m, nurses, teachers etc all going to live?

The school my kids go to in inner London keeps losing good teachers because they want to buy a house and can't locally. It's a real shame.

Personally I had help from parents to buy relatively early, plus now earn quite a lot and the first place was a smart buy in an area that gentrified so I benefited from that.

Local families (parents a whole range of jobs from photographers, cleaners, academics, civil service, baristas) often live in slightly overcrowded social housing, qualify for discounted rent, shared ownership etc. Or are a bit older and bought earlier when it was cheaper. Or like me, family money/high paying jobs.

@TitusMoan yes I wondered about that - didn't like to ask!!

A friend's DD (27) bought her first flat last year. She works for a US law firm (she's not a lawyer) and earns well. She was gifted a deposit but has a high mortgage - flat cost £500k in so so part of Brixton. Her brother rents a room in it.
I guess it forces couple to buy together earlier than they might.
There are plenty of young families around me (zone 3, terraced houses around £1m). No idea what they do.

The teacher I know who worked in London for a few years lived in a houseshare. I imagine you either are rich or you’re poor and get your rent partly paid by HB. Do young people not stay at home for several years and save to buy a house anymore? That’s what everyone I know did before getting married and buying or building their houses.

I can’t imagine doing an ordinary job and paying a fortune to rent or buy in London just because it’s London. There are much nicer places to live.

I love Croydon and would happily live there if I found something affordable.

It’s a thing. Not sexually (necessarily), but you’re welcome to read up on it.

We bought our first place about 20 years ago and then the house we’re in 16 years ago. TBH London has never felt affordable but when we bought our house there were definitely pockets of London that were. My DC really want to stay in London but there is no way they could afford to buy anything.

In the early 90s it was easy to find a nice flat in a good/smart area of London for around £60k. Mortgages of 3x salary and a 5% deposit were also easy to get. So a single person earning £20k could buy their own home and ride a wave of soaring house prices. A friend’s son recently managed to buy a small flat in outer London for less than £250k on a £50k salary but he lived with his parents for years to save a deposit. I’m amazed when I see young couples with children buying £1m houses.

How much do they earn and what was the cost of the house? I would happily live in Croydon but haven’t found anything we could afford (we’d need a 3 bed).

Not sure what they earn. Not high-flyer salaries. The house was under £400k, and I think had 3 beds, the third being nursery sized, could possibly fit a single bed and not much else?

What’s your budget?

the squeamish heebie-jeebies that occur on MN when more affordable areas of London are mentioned.

This made me laugh and it's absolutely true.

Whenever property comes up, if you try to mention the remaining pockets of affordability in London, the Mumsnet reaction is as if you had suggested moving to a warzone

South London has some reasonably price properties - I don't live there now but I don't think it bad as people make out. In many respects it better than area I live now. Crystal Palace, West Norwood, Herne Hill, Croydon, Raynes Park, Motspur Park.

DH and I were born in South London. We own property but we did it by buying ten years ago and moving much further out than we grew up - went from z2 to z5 (also croydon!).

There are pockets of more affordable properties but you have to get over their reputation (people are unimaginably rude about Croydon). A lot of our friends did the same things as us - moved to less desirable areas of London, or just left completely.

Herne Hill is seriously posh these days!

Thornton Heath is quite reasonable I think?

My 29 year old dsister and he friends!

Works in cyber security earns a lot and is buying her first flat for £700kish.

She's managed to save £150k deposit plus costs whilst renting at the same time.

She seems to mix in rich circles and knows several people whose parents have bought them flats/houses outright. 🤷🏼‍♀️

God, yes. We’d move there like a shot if we had a spare couple of million and needed a 6 bedroom house.

Oh it is? I moved to other side. I technically now live in wealthier with expensive houses. However, I feel that that South London was bit more refined.

I don't think it is a bad area but not my cup of tea. From what I remember it was relatively cheaper than other areas.

There is no point being picky about “areas”. What matters is good transport links. As soon as you have those, and the area is still cheapish, it eventually gentrifies. I think Thamesmead further out from Woolwich type thing is still cheap-ish. That is the East Crossrail section. Abbey Wood is the Crossrail section. Still cheap by London standards, can get a house. It is going to be redeveloped around there. There are always places like this in London. It is just one example.

Must know different people. DC’s friends, early -mid 20s have bought

However they are starting with 1 or 2 bed flats and are buying with partners/spouses and are very flexible about where they are looking.

£700 per month each saved for 2 years is over £33k.

I know 1 couple who has paid circa £300,000 for a brand new 2 bed flat on the outskirts of London, Both under 25. Both very committed to saving for a deposit for the past 3 years However others have paid around 100k less mainly in East or South East London

Definitely no help from parents or inheritance

£700 per month each saved for 2 years is over £33

But that's a lot to find on top of rent?

Honestly. I have a council house in Twickenham. Looking at it, you would think I paid over £800,000 for it. I pay £560 a month.
And there's thousands of us.
It wasn't always like this. I paid private rent for 15 years, got a council home outside London then mutual exchanged back in.
I have a £41000 salary so for me London is very much affordable.

I'm not the only one!

Then there's the super rich!

I am just going by what Theredbears
says her DN saves per month on a teachers salary of £2.5k per month

The common complaint most of the DN who are working is how difficult it is to get into the housing ladder. These are bright, motivated and hardworking people
One DN is in her late 20s and is working as a teacher, with a net pay approx £2.5k - gross is £43k but after tax, student loan and pensions. After rent, bills, food etc she has approx £700 to save towards her deposit.
Even a basic flat in around her area will set her back £350k which will be a struggle.
This leads me to my next question, if ateacher cannot afford a basic flat in London, who is living in London?

The answer is those who are flexible in where and what they buy.
What is stopping your DN looking in a different area, buying something that isn’t perfect but she can afford.

There are plenty of places under £300k and a few under £200k. They shouldn’t be looking for their forever home but a home for right now.

I know if I had decided to only buy a forever family home I would be still saving for it now when all my children are adults .