600K budget for freehold house with garden. South London. Doable?

[canadianinlondon]

Hi all, I work near Liverpool St Station (I have very good WFH flexibility) and my husband works near Kennington Station (he prefers to cycle or drive to work). We have budget of 600K and looking for a 2 bedroom freehold house with garden (preferably big for dog). This will be our first home in UK and hopefully a place for us to start a family too. We are thinking South London, near train station. Preferably nice/up and coming neighborhood would be good. A 30 mins commute/drive to Kennington would be ideal as husband needs to go to work often. Any suggestions for areas to look? A little overwhelmed with all the possible train stations in SE and SW.

Do you mean a house or a flat? I think a 2 bed flat is do-able, and you’ll often get a bigger garden with a ground floor flat than a house. A house, probably not. And half an hour’s drive from Kennington is basically no further than Clapham or Brixton as the traffic around there is utterly horrific in the morning. Cycling probably a bit better. If you do go for a flat it’s likely to be leasehold but that’s very common and not an issue at all in the UK as long as the lease is a decent length.

Friend owns a 2 bed garden flat in Brixton very close to Brockwell Park - sure it's worth about £550k based on what the smaller upstairs no garden neighbours paid for theirs recently...

The road traffic is horrendous!

The people traffic towards the tube is just mad in the mornings 😂

South London - you have to be just a little bit more specific!

If he's Kennington and you're Liverpool Street but less often, have a look at the places down the Northern line - Morden/Colliers Wood?

You probably could in morden/mitcham/norbury/south norwood/croydon but you might need to push that 30 min commute a bit...

I think you’d need to push 30 minute commute.l

@canadianinlondon, unfortunately that budget isn't great for a house with a large garden within a 30 minute commute of Kennington. You could try further out in New Cross/Nunhead or even Greenwich but the budget and traffic will be the sticking points. A flat is more realistic.

I think Morden would be worth a look. You could get a 3-bed house with decent-sized (for London) garden for that budget. 40 minutes to Kennington on tube but very possible to buy within 5-10 minute walk of tube and train stations.
Morden Hall Park would be great to have on the doorstep for the dog too.

South Norwood works for budget. 14 min commute to London Bridge, then back down the Northern line for Kennington and about 10-15 mins various ways to Liverpool St.

It’s a bit shabby around the edges (we’ve lived here 4 yrs) but lots of 20-somethings coming into the area as it’s pretty much the only place you can buy a period house for half a million and and still have a 30 min commute. Plus it’s got a few decent pubs, cafes, shops coming up.

This is around the corner from me and I really like it, country park on your doorstep and would save you £100k too

www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-71302254.html

Thank you all!

@Dollywilde thanks for sharing that link! Looks beautiful!

I'm looking at areas near a train station (not the Northern line corridor as I've heard the commute on Northern line can be hectic during peak hours). Explored Streatham/StreathamCommon/Hill area, will be checking out NewCross/Nunhead as suggested by @Lightsabre. Open for a longer commute but getting a freehold house with garden around 600K and under will be important for us.

I think it's very doable, especially if you're prepared to go a bit further out (which lots do anyway for the schools and green space.) There seem to be plenty of freehold houses in Kingston for example, in your budget and with direct trains to Vauxhall in about 25-30 mins.

Would you consider Denmark Hill/Camberwell? It would be easy to cycle to Kennington from there, and Denmark Hill station has direct trains to Victoria and Farringdon/King's Cross.

leasehold Art Deco apartment with communal gardens £460

same block but three bedrooms £575

modern 2 bed flat in converted grammar school with communal gardens £475

two bed flat with large gardens £595

Oval/Kennington borders

"2" bed flat with garden close to Kennington tube £575

2 bed flat in the very chichi Hanover Gardens by Oval tube but small garden £600

2 bed flat in Kennington ok garden £500

Herne Hill/Brixton borders

2 bed house with decent garden £595

A little further out in East Dulwich but still ok transport and cyclable to Kennington

2 bed period terraced house with garden £600

2 bed modern semi with garden and very good transport links £600

WOW this is incredible!! Thank you @ghislaine. I'm going to check out each listing. We are exploring a new area each weekend to get a sense of the area. We haven't been to Denmark Hill or Camberwell so will have to see!

Worcester Park is 33 minutes to Kennington (train to Vauxhall). Zone 4. 3-bed semi-detached houses with good-sized garden for your budget. Good primary schools. This one is 5-minute walk from station:

https://www.zoopla.co.uk/for-sale/details/55185763?utmsource=v1:5bWFDybfWx7C7AGpeagt7mP3PgcqjuqJ&utmm_medium=api

How about these in East Dulwich?

3 bed flat with large shared garden £600

very similar to above, same price, around the corner

2 bed terraced house with good sized garden £575

2 bed flat ok garden but leasehold £565

Penge - lots of train links, lovely houses for your budget and a really nice garden centre with a cafe.

Look very carefully at schools if you’re thinking of having a family there

You would definitely be able to get a two bed house with a garden if you are happy to consider ex local authority terraced houses in Brockley/Honor Oak/Forest Hill/Sydenham. I’ve seen some come and go quite quickly over the year we have been looking.

This is nice and good park at end of road for dog!
www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-71617335.html

If you don't mind ex-council you can get something like this in Peckham - very close to the station and shops/bars but on a quiet little square.

‪www.zoopla.co.uk/for-sale/details/55449747?‬

Or a working link! www.purplebricks.co.uk/property-for-sale/3-bedroom-terraced-house-peckham-966813

Thank you everyone for your suggestions! All thanks to suggestions here, I've been able to get our dream period home (with massive garden) in border of Anerley/Penge, close to overground/SE train line.

Thank you Mumsnetters!

My friend got a 3 bed house in Beckenham with garden for 525 - it’s further out but their are a couple of different train lines which make it good for them both to commute in to different parts of the city

So nice of you to update! Enjoy your new home.

Beckenham is super close to us (and my good friends are also buying a home there which would be amazing). Short drive to Beckenham Park which is very nice for our dog. We are really happy with our choice, thanks again for suggestions and broadening our search zone!