Areas of London for young professionals?

[patchorpad]

Where would you recommend for a young professional couple to buy their first pad? It needs a reasonable commute to the city.

Together they earn around £200k, and will need a 90% mortgate. If they both can stick their long gruelling hours city jobs, then that income should increase year on year, quite healthily.

I haven't lived in London since a young child and therefore cannot gauge where is nice/safe these days. I think they'd like Kensington, but then I looked at the flat prices, no chance ! [santa]

Camden, Stockwell, Balham, Crouch End, West Hampstead, East Dulwich, Hackney, Shoreditch.

Why don’t they ask their friends???

Rather than their mum asking on a mum forum...

Totally depends what they like dong, where their friends are and how they see themselves living their lives.

Agree with others that a good commute should be no 1 priority, ideally a direct line (so on the same tube line as their office). For me I would probably sacrifice being very central to go out to Zones 3 or 4 where they will get a lot more space for their money whilst still having a very reasonable commute (in London terms!) - they could buy a nice spacious garden flat or small house for £600-700k in somewhere like Highgate, Finchley, West Hampstead (on the Northern or Jubilee lines) which should then see them through to having a baby or two rather than having to sell up their cool tiny flat in somewhere more central once they want more space in a few years time (think of the stamp duty!), but obviously that's me talking as a boring suburban mumsy type - these areas are very 'naice' , safe, leafy and have a selection of posh shops and restaurants etc but perhaps not happening/cool enough for a pair of 20 somethings who might want to be in more of a buzzy area. People I know who roughly meet that description currently live in:

-Old Street/Shoreditch (feels v rough around the edges but super hipster territory)
-Canonbury/Islington (more chi chi)
-Battersea
-Putney
-Brixton
-Clapham

Where do they live at the moment, might be a good starting point?

Throwing a curve ball, but do they want to max out on their mortgage? Will this add pressure to their lives and force them to stay in longer hours culture even if they don't want to ? Would it limit them if/when they want to start a family? How stable are their jobs? How easy will it be to find equivalent roles if they lose current ones ?

When they look around the office is it youth heavy, suggesting a high attrition rate? Does the office ever do "tap on the shoulder and out" redundancy rounds?

It sounds like they want to max out their lifestyle, but I would be boring (and was at that age albeit on a significantly smaller income ) and buy something cheaper, aiming to pay off the mortgage early.

-Greenwich
-Bkackheath
-Lee
-Kidbrooke
-Brixton
-Hither Green

Do they live in London now? Where do their friends live? What do they enjoy doing at the weekend?

Try Woolwich before Crossrail. Lots of great developments a street feast, an arts quarter or head up the hill to Plumstead and you can buy a large 3 bed terrace.

My DD was doing this exact search last year. She rented in Elephant and Castle but didn’t want to live there. She also spent 6 weeks living fairly near Clapham Junction, but that meant an early start as she regularly travels out of town from mainline stations as well as to the office. That was a killer and she didn’t want that. It would suit if the commute was ok though. We also looked at Stockwell. Not brilliant as it seemed to lack coffee shops etc but had a few nice roads. £550,000-£600,000 gets a 2 bed flat in Kennington/Oval. Zone 2 and a quick commute. Enough available locally and a short commute home from nearly anywhere!

Brixton had riots and wasn’t very pleasant 40 years ago. Areas change. My DD wanted to avoid anywhere with overground or rail only. However Shoreditch is certainly ok and also Islington.

Islington, can walk to The City if near Upper St
/ Canonbury area. Same with Hackney; Shoreditch, Dalston, London Fields.

Islington is great.

I'm beside Highams Park which is 26 minutes on the overground to Liverpool Street. Trains run every 15 minutes. Reliable though sometimes it can be 29 mins if twits keep standing in the doors etc. It's quite leafy and sought after. Very quiet and residential. A few new blocks of apartments going up. Some right beside a very large Tesco/the station itself.

E.g. this one

www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-58630584.html

Oh, but I should state, that most 'rich' people I know live in North London these days. Along the Northern line, but far out enough to get to the leafy suburbs. You can get into Bank on the Northern line from quite far out in 30 mins or so.

E.g a friend of mine who is a property developer bought a two bed at Woodside Park.

It depends on so many things, whether they drive, how they prefer to commute, what they want to have nearby, how long of a commute they want, whether it may be the home they have for first baby (so schools may be a consideration), where they see property prices moving in the area, where their friends are etc. It's impossible for us to recommend a place really without knowing more about them.

If they can earn £200k between them I’m sure they can figure out where they’d like to live.

Edgeware is another place that a rather well off friend who works in the city lives.

Borough. Walk to work in City. Easy commute to canary wharf.

Lots to do.

Not as pricey as other more established zone 1 areas (eg. Islington).

Definitely should be able to afford a big one bed or a small 2bed depending on layout.

they could buy a nice spacious garden flat or small house for £600-700k in somewhere like Highgate, Finchley, West Hampstead (on the Northern or Jubilee lines)
I doubt there is a small house for that price in West Hampstead or Highgate. Duplex yes, house not so sure. Finchley has some 2 up/2down that might fit into that price range but most of the houses are larger.

Young city type professionals tend to be in south west London so near Clapham, Battersea etc. If it was me I would go for Islington as the commute is much better.

I'm absolution LOLing to myself at the suggestions to live outside the north/south circular.

They aren't 45 and married with three children!

I swear to god most people have no ability to see past what they wanted/needed.

I would go for Islington or Hampstead with that budget. When we were younger Clapham was trendy but now it's Dalston, Shoreditch and Walthamstow. But if they're sensible types then they should look a little longer term and buy a house a bit further out. Greenwich has an easy commute to the city and you could walk/cycle to Canary Wharf. Cafe culture and very easy hop to Central London.