Moving to Wales (overseas family currently in England)

[BrightDreamer]

Struggling to find the right topic to post this under.
^^
Cardiff or Swansea for a young family?

hello, we’ve moved to the UK with my job and have 2 kids (2 and 7 soon). We’ve been here about 10 months now. Currently close to London but the rent is exorbitant and even on a very decent salary cannot save much at all. Our rental is about 2500 a month and has terrible heating insulation costing us another 500 a month for a house that rarely goes above 19 degrees. We are bleeding money. I’d always wanted to spend more on the kids and feels like I’m just paying bills.

we started to look for an alternative and have friends in Wales.
I have the flexibility of working from anywhere and since we feel more settled now can look at finding somewhere more permanent and comfortable.

im currently considering Cardiff and reading up threads on here for private schools and areas to live.

we like to have things to do and love travelling in our car with UK. Ideally looking for a city vibe and not rural, hence Cardiff. Somewhere 3 bed with a good private school and space in nursery. Walk to some amenities but parking for car. We have enough for a deposit for about 400k house mortgage is approved. But I would like to cap it at 300k. Or alternatively , perhaps better , rent somewhere first and then go from there.

I would like to ideally kick start this process now and start my older boys 7yo in year 3

what would you suggest in terms of Cardiff, areas and schools and any advice that may help us make the most of our money and time in the UK here. Thanks!

Cardiff is a great city for kids. Try villagey Pontcanna or the Llandaff area. There are lots of parks and great museums and theatre. It's also a short journey to the coast. Not sure what you'd get for 300k though - better to stretch it towards 400.

Cardiff for sure

I don’t think you’ll get much in Cardiff for 300k. In Swansea you’d get a decent 3 - 4 bed house in a nice area for 300 - 400k, although not in the ‘best’ areas (which tend to be more rural though).

Cardiff city centre is far far better than Swansea city centre although they are investing. Cardiff is much bigger with lots of options whilst Swansea is fairly run down still.

Swansea only has one private school I think whereas Cardiff has more.

You would be restricted on 300k in Cardiff. It depends what you want. You could probably get a small semi in Thornhill north Cardiff for that but if you want to be more central, you would need a much bigger budget.

Be careful with schools too in Cardiff. Nearly all secondaries are over-subscribed even if you move into the area. I know your children are small but you need to think way ahead with catchment areas. It might not apply if you are only looking at private.

Similar story to us! We moved to Cardiff from the south of England and have a 2 year old and a 6 year old.
As others have said you'll get more for your money housing-wise near Swansea, but I think it depends on what's important for you in terms of value and lifestyle. We've lived in north Cardiff and now on the outskirts, you can definitely get a 3 bed house for £300k here and even now we're in a house that's above that budget our mortgage doesn't come close to what you're currently being charged in rent. We really like living here as you get easy enough access to large city centre and there's plenty for kids to do. Also easy links to M4 for visiting family in England.
I lived in Port Talbot (near Swansea) about 15 years ago for a brief stint, although it's a lot cheaper out that way and there's some absolutely beautiful countryside (google Rhossili beach in the Gower for inspiration there), for me I was drawn to wanting city life too much!

Thanks so much. The trouble with going higher is that the rental return in case and when we move to something more substantial, would not be great?

Albeit a little north of 300k, I can see a little bit of choice , something like this which seems ok - what do you guys think? This area seems close to the city and Cathedral School (haven’t considered if they have intake)

https://www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/144438242

Cardiff 100%. Swansea more affordable but lifestyle much better in Cardiff. That property is in Fairwater which isn’t the nicest area although you can get some decent houses there. It depends how important area is vs house. I’d look at Canton or Llandaff but you would need to up your budget a bit (less so for Canton)

If you don't mind being a bit further out, Rhiwbina is nice:

www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/143961353#/?channel=RES_BUY

Thanks so much for all your comments. I will be reviewing some of the areas mentioned on this post so I really appreciate any input. For us the main thing is to send them to a private school and not have to spend too much on the mortgage, I would much rather Stick to a lower mortgage, then go bit higher and then work out catchments etc. The education and experience will stay with them when whenever we return overseas, so it’s probably that has better value over a house. If we do end up staying here for more than five years, I suspect will be in a much better spot economically as well as psychologically, speaking to be rooted in Wales. At which case it makes more sense to spend more and consider larger houses or bigger mortgages.

That house is nice but I wouldn’t personally choose to live in Fairwater. Maybe look at Canton but it depends which road.

Think I found something that might be in the right area as described by most. what would you say about this area? https://www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/142194866

Right on the border with Ely, which is one of the roughest areas in Cardiff. (I can say that having lived in Grangetown for 8 years!)

Everyone I know whose kids go to the Cathedral School live in Llandaff proper or Pontcanna.

Aren’t most posters talking about North Cardiff? That’s Whitchurch, Rhiwbina, Tongwynlais, Radyr. (I grew up in that area but didn’t go to private school.)

I would seriously consider looking at Cardiff North (Thornhill, in particular). You can get a property in your budget. This is a safe, family area with lovely countryside around. I would look at St Johns College: a lovely, nurturing school and better than Cathedral, in my opinion (I have experience of both). It’s a 20 minute drive from Thornhill to St John’s

Probably 30 now with all the 20mph and roadworks.

Thornhill is a really good shout though.

20mph is a disadvantage of living in Wales. Mind you, I did Thornhill to SJohns in 20 minutes in rush hour yesterday, so it’s still ok generally. Pontprennau is even closer (10 minutes). Not as pretty as Thornhill, in my opinion, but the houses are decent.

This is a lovely area in my opinion! we’re also looking to move here. Nicest end of canton bordering Llandaff to the north, you’ll get more house for your money around the Victoria park area than you will in Llandaff or pontcanna.
It borders Caerau/Ely. Caerau is a less affluent area but not rough. I also think this is a bit of a silly argument from the previous poster - ‘posh’ Pontcanna borders Riverside which is very very rough, think needles in the park, fly tipping and blocks of flats notorious for the rehoming of drug users.
We have friends there whose children go to the cathedral school, they live just off Windway road, I would also recommend kings Monkton as a private school - located in the city centre but they do a minibus service.
Victoria Park also has some lovely bakeries and restaurants! Have a look at Let Them Eat Cake.

The only negative thing I can think of about the Victoria park area is the parking in the summer months, especially the school holidays. The actual Park contains a free splash pad which is extremely popular with young families! Some of the streets haven’t got resident only parking!

North Cardiff is overrated in my opinion! Takes forever to commute to the centre and full of stuffy snobs. Radyr in particular.

Thank you everyone for all your help. We spoke to the schools and unfortunately they have no space at Cathederal. We don’t like the other options for us. So as it stands we will not be moving to Wales it seems. I have to keep looking at areas with decent schools and now thinking of either Oxford way or perhaps around Gloucester and nearby villages.

Swansea is lovely and has some good schools (Olchfa is one of the top state secondary schools in Wales last time I looked) and for £3-£400k you will have a lot of good options for houses in nice areas such as Dunvant/ Sketty/ Killay. There is also a really good private primary and secondary as well. It's close to the beach, good links to the M4 and in my opinion a really nice atmosphere, Mumbles and the Gower is 30 minutes away max and then Cardiff is an hour in the other direction.

Thank you so much. Been many times and agree re the gorgeous areas and proximity to seaside. While suitable for lifestyle and relaxed than Cardiff , it is unsuitable being further away from London than we’d like.