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...

Me too, emsy - it's beautiful - sigh.

Big up the SE London massive!

Innit?

I found this lovely-looking place on Rightmove featuring a truly bizarre set of agents photos. Erm, nice wonky photos of the staircase, but what about the bathroom?? Or bedrooms???

don't like the planting in the front garden either

Mmmm, now that's not normally my kind of thing but actually that house looks really nice! Odd (and o/o/focus) shots, I agree. How hard can it be to market a house properly FGS?!

I agree, it is not normally my kind of place either Lottie, but the interior and garden are v lovely. The photos are criminal for a £600,000+ house!

Exactly! The kitchen/diner looks really spacious, much more so than in your normal Victorian double-reception-kitchen-at-the-back thingamajigs...

We should all become estate agents. We'd do so much better.

Actually, I'm remembering now that Acorn Estates were marketing a property we were interested in when we were buying around here in '05. They didn't even bother turning up for the viewing - I thought this was shocking at the time but my brother (in Sussex) tells me this was standard practice when he was looking a few months ago. I HATE being shown round a house by the vendors. It's just Not Right.

Oh I am so BEYOND bored of your typical London terrace (like wot I live in now) but where is an actual picture of the kitchen, Lottie? There is a view of the kitchen from the dining area, but where is the kitchen proper?? Quite shocked that Estate Agents can be so shite at this in the age of digital photography .

My new thing is to live in a fabulous 60s/70s house ... but sadly they are a bit thin on the ground in London.

Awsome, I assume the house you linked to is also in catchment for a very good and popular primary of the same name as the street?

I am another S Londoner finding that actually life is v good in a deeply unfashionable, reputationally dodgy area - relatively low property prices, excellent schools, great community feel and good local eating and drinking oportunities even though the high rd is hideous. And on good transport routes so we can be at prettier bits very swiftly.

hey, Bibbity!
here
and even better
this one. I know someone who lives in these houses - great layout and space

I think people wanting to get on the property ladder in London basically need to acknowledge that you have to start with a 1 bedroom flat in an area that not a lot of other people want to live in. I am a little bit at all the "waah but I can't afford a 3 bed terrace in the catchment of a good primary" faces, when most of us London property mortgagers couldn't afford that when we first put a foot on the rung either.

Think maisonette - knocks a few thousand off the price and they can be nice.

Bromley is a very good idea, esp for schools.

Isleworth can be a lovely place to live, though I was childless when I was there so don't know about schools.

We have a teeny two bed cottage cottage in Greenwich with a small garden
For the same price ours is on the market for, we could buy a lovely 4 bedroom house with a garage and garden down the road in new Eltham or sidcup

Come to the south it's nice here lots of green space and the village here is lovely (Blackheath )

Lol lol lol, Londoners blame the silly prices on the Greeks! Thanks BeenBeta!

Completely agree bibbity. It's hard to believe but when we were first time buyers we too thought we'd almost missed the boat, that the only people who were going to make money on property were those who'd already bought. But I knew then that the reason I'd never bought in London was that when I should have bought a place, I could only have afforded a 1-bed in SE London and was too busy being a Notting Hill wannabe to want to "lower myself" to moving south east. Oh how I regret that now - instead I just rented and rented and only due to marrying DH and him coming into a bit of cash were we able to put down a deposit on a place here. At the time, DH used to kick himself that he'd never bought the studio flat in Kennington that his landlord tried to sell him for £80k - he thought it was a rip-off and hugely overpriced. Even back in '05 that same studio was going for £150k and now is probably nearer £250k. I know this isn't true of the Uk as a whole, and I'm not even saying it's a good thing, but basically MOST of us struggled to get our foot on the ladder, it's not as though it felt easier a few years back!

Thank you, my tiny one-bed flat on Brixton, bought when there was a huge scorched crater on the shared front garden caused by a burning car in the riots. Everyone thought I was mad. I just saw pool and Brixton Rec, excellent cinema, fab park, great shopping, great market and the tube 2 mins away.

Bibbity, don't you dare moving before our houseswap! .

Here in Milan house prices are mad and people live in smaller and smaller flats. Why are flats so unpopular in the Uk?

My first investment in London was a miniscule basement flat in Hackney, bought with a friend. We paid £76,000 our joint income was £22,000 but interest rates were 10%+.

Don't worry Franca .

We are coming to Italy in August btw, as soon as the Olympics is over. A week in Brisighella and a week near Sienna in an Agriturismo. Cannot wait.

Oh that's lovely Bibbity! We'll be in Sicily for our summer holidays...
Oh I would love a 1 bedroom flat in London...

OP, forget London, it's a mugs game! We're in Redhill, great train links to London, plenty of lovely countryside around... this place is just around the corner from us.

That's still expensive, though, HeadFairy! And then if you work in London you have to spend loads on Network Fail or whatever your train service is.
It all depends on which way we each prefer to deal with life in the SE, I suppose.

Streatham, Sydenham, Forest hill, West Norwood...
(Brockley too expensive now, probably)

Agree re Leytonstone. I live in Walthamstow but work borough-wide and I am have been to some lovely places in Leytonstone.

Tube, nice terraced houses and loads of open space.

I like Walthamstow but people tend to be sniffy about E17. Its cheap and we have two tube stations plus loads of over grounds.

There are a few patches of victoriana but its mostly 1940s ex council. I like that sort of solid house. There are some beautiful Warner flats too. You get our own front door and garden and no dodgy conversion style thin walls.

I think people see Waltham Forest as being miles out of central London because its on the end of the tube line. Its not - its 20 mins from the west end.

Come join us Chippies (Chavvy Hippies )