To question whether northerners are actually poorer than southerners ?

[Naegriafowlia]

As we know a lot of northerners seem to think all southerners are living like the Russian Romanov family pre murder and funds from the south should be directed up north because they are apparently so much poorer than us.

But is this even true? If you can buy a family home up there for 100k or less and the same size home costs 300-400k on average in the south. You already have a lot more disposable income. I know they say they get paid less, but Tesco (for example) pays the same every where and has branches everywhere. I know they also say there’s no good jobs there but where there’s people there’s schools and hospitals so you want us to believe there’s no teachers and doctors?

I know someone will say “move there then” personally I won’t be moving anywhere anytime soon as I started my family young (first born a few months after GCSEs) and my kids are all really settled in school and with friends.
Based on what I’ve heard from northerners they are more welcoming to people from countries on the other side of the planet than they are their fellow countrymen from 100 miles to the south.

Wow, it is cheap there!

But it's for a reason. High deprivation index and low average wage - lower than elsewhere, north or south.

Southerners moving up north have most likely been driven out of the south by house prices them selves but there’s no sympathy for them.

I’m not sure where you think you can buy a property for under £100k? Possibly a studio or 1 bed flat, or a doer upper. I live in a deprived area of Liverpool, the house next door to me (3 bed, new build townhouse) sold for £175k 2 years ago.

So you're saying most families wouldn't want to live in such a house, so it's not a very useful argument?

🎯

As an anecdote, whenever I go on holiday (usually Europe), there always seems to be a lot of people from the North or Scotland there. I’m sure it’s because house prices are cheaper too they have more disposable income than younger people down south.

https://www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/93136950#/?channel=RESBUY

Leaving plenty spare to do it up

And another https://www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/170603618#/media?id=media0&ref=photoCollage&channel=RES_BUY

Hahaha

im saying it dosent exist. There are no three bed houses for 100k in London. “For auction” means the starting price for auction. And your kids would be taken into care if you moved them into a house that had been in a house fire and was completely burnt out.

Can’t believe I’m having to explain this

You must be very new to MN

I’m another Scot whose read plenty of robust threads going both north and south on here.

I’ve been abroad once in the last 7 years and my experience was exactly the same! Good point

You're not "having to explain" anything to me, it's you who's missing the point. Raising the fact that there are some run down 2 bed houses in some deprived corners of ANYWHERE doesn't mean it's a useful argument to make when you're generalising about an entire half of a country.

Have you considered that you ran into more northerners because you were on the cheaper holidays /in lower cost hotels? And that those who can afford to holiday more will be found at higher end hotels and longer haul destinations.

As others say, it’s not the cost of housing but the lack of jobs/opportunities. Poverty arises from lack of employment and underfunded education, not the inability to get on the housing ladder.

My DH is from the Midlands and I went to uni in York and we both would have loved to have stayed in those areas after graduating… but no jobs. Not for graduates, not for any children we went on to have, and very few for school leavers or those working in industries which were contracting or closing down (manufacturing etc). We had no choice but to settle in the South and were in a privileged position of being able to do so. DH, despite longing to go back, has never been able to.

That just means that they can afford to go to those holiday destinations. Ever consider the rich are at the higher end locations and hotels meaning that this anecdote actually points to the opposite if we are to presume you are not wealthy yourself? That there are more northerners and Scots at middling or lower cost destinations.

Exactly. It's why up thread I said to really compare, you'd need two very similar areas, but someone with that sort of knowledge is very limited. OP then said she compared 2 small towns by the sea, which may or may not be comparable at all!

Have you ever been up north with us northerners op?
we’re not much different to you
we also have electric and the internet you know

you're making the ridiculous sweeping generalisation that everywhere up north has really cheap property and everywhere down south is really expensive. You should probably have a look at prices in some of the more desirable parts of the north where there's good job opportunities.......trust me, if there were 3 bed houses going for under £200k I'd be living in one (my 2 bed flat is worth around £300k!)

Anyway none of this really matters because you can assess the population level wealth through statistics.

North vs South (excluding London)
Even after removing London:

• South East: £39,983 (excluding London)
• North East: £34,403

The South East still has earnings around 16% higher than the North East.

ONS Gross Disposable Household Income (GDHI) per person, 2024:

• London: £36,487
• UK average: £25,965
• North East: £20,562

London residents have about 77% more disposable income per head than those in the North East.

Excluding London
Using the same ONS regional data:

• Most southern regions remain above the UK average.
• The North East remains the lowest-income English region

You’re missing the point. You can find livable houses for that price in the north. You’re trying to say you can in London. The only houses listed for close to that price in London are up for auction (you do realise that for auction means that’s not the actual price right?) usually it’s a house that’s been burnt to the ground in a fire.

Two bed and deprived is not the same as auction price and burnt to the ground 😂

I don't think the OP had a clue about what I said tbh.

Are you on a wind up?

This 🤣
The “North” covers a vast area OP.
Have you ever been to the “Footballers wives” part of Cheshire for example? If not, some considerable wealth lives there! Perhaps more, than a run down part of Kent/Hackney?

As a Scottish woman , living in Scotland 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 WTH ?? 🤦🏻‍♀️
where are these family homes of which you speak that are £100k to £200k

I’m failing to understand how people aren’t understanding this, that poster said you can also find a house for 100k in London and failed to post proof when I asked. I’m merely saying if you found a house listed that cheap in London it would be auction price and usually in a house fire.

Saying “oh but the cheap houses up north have two bedrooms and are in deprived areas” is not the same.
Are YOU on the wind up where you pretend to be obtuse and not understand what auction means ?

oh and btw you can find really cheap three bedroom houses in normal neighbourhoods up north too.

I'm starting to think so.

Wind up, or stupid.