Richmond upon Thames - good place to buy?

[LittleFrieda]

My neice is thinking of buying a flat/small house in Richmond upon Thames. Is it a good time to buy there? It looks incredibly expensive for somewhere pretty far out. What about the plane noise.

Anybody have any insight?

She is a first time buyer and has up to £500,000 to spend.

I lived in Hampton Wick, on the same Overgorund loop as Richmond, when I was in my 20s.
If I was young and single again, with money for a flat in London, unless I had a very particular reason for living somewhere like Richmond I would go far more central. Living that far out is difficult after a late late night out, it's difficult to socialise if you have friends all over London and want to invite people round, if you are working in the centre you spend even more of your money on travel, to get away for the weekend unless you are going out along the motorway towards the SW you will spend over an hour crossing / going round London or getting to a mainline station. Kingston at least has students, but otherwise surely the strengths of many well-to-do suburbs are aimed at families?
I would advise her to live more centrally and visit the fantastic parks etc at the weekend as the fancy takes her.

How can you not notice the plane noise in Richmond?? You'd have to be deaf! And Richmond Hill is most definitely affected. The partner of our flatmate refused to sleep at our flat (on Richmond Hill) as he couldn't get any sleep after 5 am.

If children in state schools are going to be an issue, then be sure to pick your location in richmond with the utmost care, too. R & T council has been a blackspot for reception place shortages in recent years.

Narmada - I suppose some people don't smell the coffee either . I too find it almost impossible to believe.

Love Richmond and have lived here eleven years - and we moved from Chiswick several years before we had kids - I wouldn't want to live anywhere else in London.

The Alberts are lovely - v popular with couples and you can still get places for about 500k, Katie's suggestion of Manor Grove and those roads is also good - it's not so chi-chi (and not so expensive) but transport links still good with North Sheen station, Richmond and Kew Gardens all nearby.

Planes - I honestly have never been bothered by them, even when we had a loft bedroom - and like others I don't know anyone who has moved because of them - although I know that one potential purchaser didn't buy our old house because they were worried about the noise (but they had never lived in the area - just visited!). And like Harassed, I actually notice when they are missing (I knew what you meant about taking off ).

schools - this side of Richmond is very lucky - between Kew and Richmond there are about 6 state primary schools - most of which are excellent. I know it's a different story towards Mortlake and out the other side.

Honestly - I could rave about the area - even before we had kids we loved living here - warm evenings in a pub by the river, picnics and a bottle of wine in Kew Gardens/ Richmond Park, two cinemas, two theatres, lots of restaurants but still only 30 mins from central London. It's fab

I used to live in Teddington and loved it, you get (a bit) more for your money than Richmond but you are very close. You can have a good social life in Richmond but there are very nice pubs and restaurants in Teddington too, and the river, and Bushy Park, and Kingston 5 mins away for shopping... How I miss it.

Another vote for Chiswick here. It has the same feel as Richmond and has a nice mix of young single folk and families.

Alinta - I do notice birdsong and I do smell coffee. I do notice planes if I listen out for them. I don't however find the noise a nuisance. We have double glazing, and planes are getting ever quieter. I have no reason to lie - they really do not bother us! I do not recall ever getting woken by a plane or being unable to get to sleep because of them. Others who live here have also posted to say they do not find the planes a nuisance, so I'm not sure why you find it so hard to believe?

Don't you generally tune out noises that occur regularly where you live? I used to live in Isleworth adn the plane noise was way worse. And yet I lived there 10 years really hardly noticing (except concorde)

Kew, I can't agree - we had to move away from Isleworth - I couldn't bear the plane noise, it really affected my health! Richmond is a lovely place to live, but I could never live under or near a flight path again. Love the peacefulness of Sussex. Depends on what sort of person you are, I s'ppose ...

We moved away because of the plane noise too. We were renting there and bought the other side of the park (kingston). I am not a particularly fussy person to be honest, but it even bothered me.

I also found it a bit too cloyingly upper middle class/ rugger bugger at times. Hard for a northern lass to adapt to. Think little Ulysseses, Aramintas abd Barnabies in the playground.

To be fair, if I lived in Isleworth I'd move away. Not a patch on Richmond

Hmm. Richmond is very rugby. And neither dh nor I are. He often gets asked why we live here as if it's mandatory It's not.

One thing I should say is that even living in a rabbit hutch (albeit on that when the property was built would probably have had an occupancy of between 8-16) there is so much outside space that it doesn't really matter. We go to Richmond Park, The Green, The Old Deer Park, Terrace Gardens, Kew Gardens, Marble Hill House and the London Wetland Centre. Not exactly spoilt for outside space.

KatieMiddleton - Isleworth is actually quite nice and I still have friends who live there. It's a very down to earth place.

judging by the various responses - some people don't mind the plane noise, some do. Obviously she needs to rent and make her own mind up - lots of individual opinions aren't really that helpful in these circumstances.

KatieMiddleton - An Alberts cottage with an occupancy of 8-16 - really?

I don't live in the Alberts. My place is late Georgian and was built as tradesmen's cottages so it wasn't uncommon to have many, many children and an occupancy rate of 8-16 was normal. Obviously the Victorian idea of over crowding is quite different to today's and it's possible some of The Albert's would have had similar occupancy rates - but I haven't looked at any census data for those. I've just had a nose about my house.

Laughs in 2024

North Kingston/Ham is lovely and the bus service into Richmond is good.

I've never lived in Richmond but have been a frequent visitor. It's a lovely part of London, being near the river and vast green spaces. I can't say I've noticed the planes especially, but like I say I haven't lived there.

£500K will not buy very much in this area and I do wonder if the compromise would be worth it. There are other nice places that are better connected, have great facilities and where a more spacious property could be procured.

The traffic is pretty bad in Richmond, but you could say the same of most areas here. I've noticed that the shopping has declined over the years. Several brands have left the high street and whilst there are some nice independent stores, it's not as practical as it might be. Though maybe that's not such a big deal with Kingston near (the traffic is truly awful in Kingston by the way but easily reachable by public transport).

It's a bit of a faff on the train to Waterloo and South West Trains get super congested during peak hours. The District line is a right old schlep so again if getting into town each day is a thing, there are probably better locations.

To those commenting on potential price drops, I expect that's unlikely. They might stagnate, as has been seen this year but I think now is as good a time to buy as any. There's less on the market, but you are also less likely to get involved in bidding wars as there are fewer buyers. More important is buying a place you can both enjoy now and grow into. Stamp duty has made frequent moves much less desirable. Personally, I wouldn't buy a property I wasn't prepared to live in for the next 10 years and as a result would probably look beyond Richmond.

This thread is from 2012!

Still some good advice!