Awful London house prices

[crazyhead]

Am I the only one to be depressed looking at houses to buy in London this Spring? Asking prices are way higher than ever before. It is so grim knowing that you are basically going to be funding a glamourous retirement for anyone in their mid 40s plus, while you are harnessed to really frightening debts.

All my friends work really hard/are really well qualified and the only ones who aren't screwed by it either have minted families or had the 'foresight' to go into a job in private equity straight after university.

I'm mid thirties - not even young! - so I dread to think how rubbish it is for younger Mumsnetters

And although of course it is better outside London, it isn't so easy to leave family, friends, and of course work behind.

Anyway, rant over, but wondered if anyone else feels my pain...

South London is much cheaper than N London! There are loads of really nice places to live there which are relatively affordable :)

Considering that the surrounding houses are from a million and up, this is a NICE pocket of decently priced homes with a selection of very good schools, both state, CofE, Catholic and a few private schools too. It is green and leafy, good shopping opportunities nearby, "village life" nearby in both Barnes and East Sheen, and with both the green expanses of Wimbledon Common, and Richmond Park within a stones throw, coupled with great transport links to central London by both bus, train and underground, it really is a bargain. Parks, cycling along the river, easy access of The A3 and the M4 and the M3, with both the Wetland Center and Kew Botanic gardens in easy reach. 20 minutes drive into the Science, Natural History and VA museums along with shopping in both High Street Kensington and Westfield, a short distance away. 2x TK maxx within reach... And Asda 5 minutes away on the A3, and otherwise both a massive Tesco, B&Q, Computer World, Homebase, a few Waitroses and M&S for groceries, whats not to love?

The price tag?

I live inn eastcote and find it a perfectly reasonable and decent area.

Crazyhead, agree that North London is outrageous, have you tried looking a bit further east? Am about to move to walthamstow to get a 3 bed house with garden for under half a mill. Quite a few hackney/stokey residents i know are doing likewise.

I also looked southeast, forest hill, honor oak area, but found you are still looking £475-550k for 3 bed victorian terrace, so decided i would rather be near where i know. Wanstead is also nice, and there are places near that are cheaper, leytonstone, forest gate etc.

Crystal Palace is lovely great place to live and very nice houses

I have friends who live in Surrey (Oxted) and I was astonished how prices there are lower than Oxford and a lot quicker into London. You might want to take a look and move out.

Unfortunatley, a lot of the London house price bubble is being driven by Euro capital flight money desperate to get money out of the Euro before it collapses. Apparently, Italian and Greek money is the biggest flow. Quite a lot of Rusian and Chinese money doing the same thing. This money is coming to London and does not care what it has to pay to buy property - it just wants it out of Euroland, Russia and China.

On top of that financial services has been pumped up again by central banks and Govts bailing out the banks and the bonuses it pays are also adding to the heat. Outiside London things are a lot cooler.

We are thinking of moving to Crystal Palace. My only problem with it is that hideous traffic system in the middle of it, and one third of the triangle (the one with a red route all the way through) is horribly scruffy. But otherwise I rather like it up there.

bibbity I have friends there and every time I have been it has had a littel bit of an upgrade! Eventually it will be just like greenwich. The schools are fab and it is very family oriented plus not yummy mummy at all more arty/intellectuals with not much cash! Would love to live there reminds me of brighton

That's why I want to move up there noddy. My area is full of bankers and IT types now, whereas me and dh are proper arty farty luvvies who will never drive round in a black 4x4 audi or volvo. But, anyway, all decisions like that are on hold atm.

I think you have to be prepared to compromise - we bought 7 years ago and it felt bad then - I know it's worse now but just because you want a house (does it have to be a house?) in a certain area, if you can't afford it then you have to lower your expectations.

Yes it's expensive in London, but then it's one of the major financial centres of the world. It's a bit like moaning that living on Manhattan is expensive - well, yes it is but... what's your point? It's Manhattan... I think certain areas of south and east London represent far better value for money, given their convenient transport and locations, than many of the outlying areas (Kent, Surrey, etc.) We recently were going to move out of London to Kent and were looking at having to spend more money to get a bigger house - there was no upsizing for us just because we were leaving London.

North London is expensive and shit - go east or south to get more for your money and a better sort of person living there .

It sounds perfect for you. Most of my mates bought around there when we all started settling down in the early 90s. We moved to Brighton for the sea and the same sort of people! All of us have ended up in similar groups of friends and jobs etc and schools even though we live miles apart!

Oooh, gonna have a looky on rightmove. Its SE19, right?

We are FTB looking around the Regent's Park area. It's not as cheap as the suburban bits in zone 3/4 but for us, better quality of life is about not having long commutes, and being able to access good amenities and family activities quickly and easily. There is affordable housing around there, although we will have to compromise with a flat rather than a house, no outside space and much smaller rooms.

Ex-council properties in the area are still affordable, though I'm sure it makes many yummy types fill with horror, along with the multi-cultural schools. Depends what your priorities are I guess.

I think it really depends on area. We lived in Stoke Newington for years and loved it and a 1 bedroom and sold for a profit but there is no way we could of afforded a house there so we moved to Forest Hill SE23. I have to say at first I was dragged kicking and screaming over the river but now I really love it and we are in a big Victorian house and near good transport and schools. I do miss N16 but the lovely East London line makes it nice and easy to visit.

I like stoke newington too!

Places like Bromley and Croydon (I'm from there) are under rated but have fast connections into London (Croydon has all night connections due to gatwick) - Victoria/London bridge in 15-20 mins. You can love a bit further out from the town centres and get plenty for your money and you're not far from the countryside.

for example

www.findaproperty.com/for-sale/property-10944109

I keep looking at this and pondering a move to the dark side.

Pretty amazing to see a house that close to a tube on for the same price as our teensy two bed flat in NW.

North London: again depends on where you look. There are plenty of 3 bedroom semis in Barnet for less than £400K: like this one

willesden nw10 and nw2 has cheaper properities.
some ex council stuff in nw6

and nw2

Three bed Victorian terrace on a residential road with very good primary school and only half a mile walk to the train into London Bridge/East London to Canary Wharf, Canada Water et al, or Victoria.
It really isn't difficult to find nice places in SE London. I live round the corner from that road, and have withing walking distance or a 5 minute bus journey when it's raining Sydenham Woods, the Horniman Museum, four parks with playgrounds including sand, tennis courts, etc, four naice cafes and a couple of greasy spoon feed the kids for a fiver types, a library, a swimming pool come September, ........

And if I want to rub shoulders with nouve yummy mummy types, I can choose from 3 different buses down to East Dulwich/Dulwich village and see the same stuff as in FH for sale at twice the price.

Agree with banjaxed re Leytonstone. Lots of nice little terraces, Central Line Tube very accessible to town.

I live in Lewisham (for past 10 years) and love it. Grew up in Muswell Hill, parents now in West Hampstead, so if I can get over myself and move over to the dark side anyone can. Now have a huge two-bed flat just outside the Lee Conservation area, would sell for around 250K. Easily big enough for me, DH, DD and another DC if we have one. Small three-bed terraces in nice roads near us go for 325K ish. Lovely area, going up, and good overground service to LB, Waterloo East and Ch X.

It makes me laugh when people say they can't afford London and then say they can't get more than a one/two bed flat for upwards of 400K. What you mean is, you only want to live in what are considered desirable parts of London in a large-ish house.

Precisely, Awesome.

I love SE London and we lived there by choice when we were in London - we could have afforded to be north of the river, but there is so much greenery and lovely space and actual HOUSES in SE why wouldn't you want to be there? If I won the lottery I would buy a house in West Greenwich .