London flat prices?

[SchoolOfKnocks]

Cash buyer here - wanting to buy a one bedroom flat in Zone 2, ideally with balcony.

Is it a falling market? Prices seem to have dropped but I'm thinking they may continue to fall. I'm in no rush.

Obviously NO ONE can predict these things and anything could happen! But I was wondering whether anyone has any feeling one way or the other about this....

Plan to keep it indefinitely, it wouldn't be an investment place that I would want to sell in a few years. So really it doesn't matter too much - but on the other hand I would like to buy the best place possible for my money!

@sunshinesupermum thank you for the links! A couple I've already seen and a couple not. It does show that yes there are flats in W14 with balconies - I lived in one myself! - so I was wondering why PPs were saying they are so rare. Sure, most don't have them but many do, it's not that much of a rarity.

Yes they are small, I checked the square footage of a flat which is the same as I used to own - identical size, a few doors down. It says 465 sq ft! At the time, I knew I wasn't living in a massive apartment, but I certainly didn't feel cramped and used to love pottering on my South facing balcony doing container gardening etc.

@CatAndHisKit
You can also have a real bargain if you go for a shorter lease as again - they can't sell to mortgage buyers yet you could invest in lease extention if you get smth under your budget

I have always steered clear of this idea as i believe extending very short leases can cost hundreds of thousands of pounds - effectively bringing the cost of purchase to what it would have been with a long lease and then some - plus lots of complicated legal work to get there ......Is this not the case?

@Smallgoon
you could deffo get so much more for your money if you looked outside of that particular borough

Would you mind suggesting the other boroughs you might have in mind - I think I need to be sure I've kept an open mind. I have probably discounted them already but I mustn't be blinkered!!

[quote SchoolOfKnocks]@CatAndHisKit
You can also have a real bargain if you go for a shorter lease as again - they can't sell to mortgage buyers yet you could invest in lease extention if you get smth under your budget

I have always steered clear of this idea as i believe extending very short leases can cost hundreds of thousands of pounds - effectively bringing the cost of purchase to what it would have been with a long lease and then some - plus lots of complicated legal work to get there ......Is this not the case?[/quote]
Yes this is quite a risky idea - the government are supposed to be (at some point) acting on the recommendations of the Law Commission review of leaseholdings which - if implemented - would change a lot of this in favour of leaseholders. But it's a long way off happening unfortunately, especially now with covid and also Brexit.
At the moment, if the lease is below 80 years, you pay half the value that extending it would add to the property to extend the lease. Which for a v short lease property in zone 1 would be £100,000s.
Make sure you know exactly what you're doing if you consider this. But indeed, because these flats can be so difficult to sell and impossible to mortgage, when they do come up, if you've got cash, good legal advice and balls of steel it could be interesting!

Just posted this on another thread but I think it's relevant to you too...

I think if Boris gets his way creating 'GENERATION BUY', first time buyer properties will increase in value rather rapidly. He is planning to ease mortgage lending restrictions and help renters afford the 5% deposit. For every brave buyer who purchases now, there are several waiting in the wings. I think there will be a bit of a flurry if/when Boris uses this new prop to boost prices. If it's where you want to live, can comfortably afford the mortgage and are planning on staying for at least a few years, I'd buy now.

www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2020/10/02/exclusive-boris-johnson-vows-put-generation-buy-housing-ladder/

If Boris brings that in and it
makes first time buyer flats rise in price then it's not really helping the first time buyers?

@SchoolOfKnocks

If Boris brings that in and it makes first time buyer flats rise in price then it's not really helping the first time buyers?

It helps them in the same way 'Help to Buy' "helped" them. Smaller deposits make properties more accessible to FTB, which is why HTB drove up property prices in London. FTBs in London didn't seem to care that they were overpaying by upwards of £50k on a new bulid flat, so long as they could get on the property market.

[quote SchoolOfKnocks]@Smallgoon
you could deffo get so much more for your money if you looked outside of that particular borough

Would you mind suggesting the other boroughs you might have in mind - I think I need to be sure I've kept an open mind. I have probably discounted them already but I mustn't be blinkered!![/quote]
So, given I haven't lived in West London, I'm probably not best placed to provide comparative alternatives. However, you could definitely get larger flats within your budget, and with outside space, in areas like Belsize Park, Chalk Farm, Tufnell Park etc, which I consider to be nice parts of North London.

Also, given that you've said it will be a bolt hole, and a place your dc can use when they're older, I imagine teh dc will probably prefer an area like Chalk Farm which is closer to trendy Kentish Town/Camden etc.

What is it about W14 that you are sold on out of interest?

If Boris brings that in and it makes first time buyer flats rise in price then it's not really helping the first time buyers?

Anything that helps people buy results in people buying and pushing prices up. I can imagine the government wants the housing market to keep ticking over rather than fall off the cliff.

@Didyousaysomethingdarling I’d rather Boris tried to stimulate the market by taking action to resolve all the non-fireproof blocks of flats. I’m stuck in mine and, while that’s fine for now as I’m not looking to move, I don’t know how long it’ll be before my block is fixed (or how much it’ll cost me)

@SchoolOfKnocks

If Boris brings that in and it makes first time buyer flats rise in price then it's not really helping the first time buyers?

Perhaps not, but it will help put more money in the pockets of the developers who'll build (likely poor quality) new builds that will no doubt be part of the scheme.

I'd rather see the tax money went on building more social housing (housing for those who can't afford to buy and saves the taxpayer on expensive temporary accommodation) but perhaps that's just me.

@Smallgoon ChalkFarm, Belsize Park would be great - I had looked there but thought it's more expensive than W14. (I'm hung up on W14 because I used to live there but that's just silly. Those areas of north London would be lovely, i will investigate further.

Not just you @SheepandCow.

The government are not very interested in FTB, only in propping up house prices and rewarding the large developers handsomely.

[quote SchoolOfKnocks]@Smallgoon ChalkFarm, Belsize Park would be great - I had looked there but thought it's more expensive than W14. (I'm hung up on W14 because I used to live there but that's just silly. Those areas of north London would be lovely, i will investigate further.[/quote]
Ooh, you may actually be right... I've only just realised that I thought your budget was £550k doh!

That said, if it's closer to £450k I still think you could find a flat in a nice enough area for that amount which will be larger than 50sqm... rather than settling for 40sqm (which imo is small).

My flat is just over 50sqm and it's deffo on the smaller side!

NRTFT - but if you are looking for a place without a garden you will snap up a bargain at the moment

I’d suggest trying for a 2 bed as that will allow you to stay a lot longer , riding out any price variations (which are as you say hard to predict)

OP, re other areas- yes, Belsize Park too expensive but HIghgate is a little better depends on the type of flat, and imo it's nicer / more charming than grand like BP. The area between Highgate and Archway tubes is great - many conversions.

I like w14 btw - not West Ken so much but Brooks Green / bits of Hammersmith towards Sttamford Brook, and yes some mansion flats there have balconies, even some conversions.

Re short lease - I didn't say 'very short', just below 80. And I only suggested this as atm flats are unpopular (without gardens) and you could well get a bargain if someone/a landlord maybe wants to sell fast and have made money on the flat so not bothered if they lose a bit. If you buy a short lease for lower than its value, you can then extend and add value- it just works that way despite legal fees - unless you overpay fo the length of lease in the first place.
The beauty of it is, you don't need to borrow for either hte flat not the extension (I mean calculate so it's within your 450k).

The problem is, short leases wer snapped up around 2010-2012 in prime areas and hard to come by now, but check by putting 'short lease' or 'cash buyer' on primlocation - not sure if rightmove has a word search feature. It's juts an idea to add another viable option for you.

@CatAndHisKit
Well I found this which looks lovely and well within budget - but when I looked at "street view" it looks like Chernobyl!!

Oakeshott Avenue, Highgate
www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-85347658.html

Don't let that terrible photo of the communal gardens put you off @SchoolOfKnocks! If it weren't for the disused fountain (probably for safety reasons), it's just a winter photo taken in January. Most gardens look pretty desolate at that time of year. The trees in gardens look much better in the views through the windows.

A friend of mine used to live near there. It's a lovely area between the Heath and Highgate Cemetery, close to the village with all the lovely pubs and restaurants. The flat is on a gated estate, which you might like as you are concerned about security.

If I lived there, I might be tempted to do some guerrilla gardening with some packets of seeds thrown into the fountain though...

www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-70940232.html

That’s what I’d like for a pad in zone 2. Riverside 2-bed with great views, lovely restaurants and the station 3 mins away. There’s also a Virgin Active with a pool on three development.

I live not far from Smugglers Way (it's in Wandsworth) - too many empty flats already there and along the river towards Vauxhall, although a buyer should pick up a bargain now as they are a hard sell, some esp with cladding issues. Overlooks the Thames looking north towards Fulham and Chelsea and nearest green space is Wandsworth Common. Both W14 and Highgate much nicer areas to live in.

I like those riverside developments in Wandsworth and Battersea. The larger bit of Wandsworth Common isn’t that quick to get from there so Wandsworth Park or the parks in Fulham would be more convenient. But anyway, I don’t imagine people buy bolt holes to spend much time in London parks as they tend to live somewhere much greener anyway.

@Guymere

I think that some flats will hold prices better than others. DDs is a warehouse conversion. It’s a short walk to the Underground. The flats have a shared garden. It’s not big but it’s quiet and pleasant. There’s a supermarket 5 mins walk away. There’s a big park 5 mins walk away. There’s a beautiful square with a pub a nano second away where neighbours play boule. I don’t think this area will greatly fall in price. It’s one stop into zone 2. Clapham is further along and is always popular! There’s zone 2 - and there’s zone 2. Not all areas are the same. I also think flats with gardens are now more popular. Having your own bit of space is desirable. Ground floor used to be cheaper! Balconies on older buildings are virtually impossible to find.

Zone 2 - Telegraph hill. Victorian conversions with massive gardens and balconies in the "hall level" flats. This is a conservation area and all the properties were built with them.

I really hope the balcony and garden we have asks as a decent selling point.

Call me a weirdo but I just can't go South of the river, no rhyme or reason to it I know and I know it's nice there but I'm not a South of the river person.

Also not bothered by gyms or parks. Nice coffee shops and easy access to West End are all I want

The issue around ESW1 has rendered a huge number of flats unmortgageable which is why there are falling prices

Call me a weirdo but I just can't go South of the river, no rhyme or reason to it I know and I know it's nice there but I'm not a South of the river person.

Weirdo

It is quite amusing how people get used to a certain part of London. Admittedly, I’m the same.