Moving from near London to Derby/house prices

[Astronaut1298]

Hi all

Sorry if this is a naive question but we have no experience at all. The figure we are being given from mortgage advisors is not enough to get us what we need in the area we live in (just outside of London)

The house prices are so much more affordable up north in places such as Derby. Is there some sort of a catch?

For e.g. here, for a 3 bedroom flat is atleast 300k plus. Up in Derby, you can get 3 bedroom house, 2 bathrooms, garage, garden for 200k. Not that we need all of that, but definitely need 3 bedrooms

I don't feel we can ever get on the ladder where we live now. We currently rent

Thanks in advance

Don't go to Derby. If you want to move up this way look at Nottingham or Sheffield instead.

I guess i'm asking if you've ever relocated for the same reasons, was it worth it or did you get up there and realise it was a big mistake?

It just seems too good to be true that we could potentially afford a property up there and we couldn't stand a chance here

Again, no experience so sorry if it sounds like a silly question. We just dont want to move and realise we were better off renting here

‘The catch’ is presumably whether you can get jobs in your field at the salary level you need for that mortgage.

And whether the area is somewhere you could move to in terms of family connections etc. And if you feel you can make a happy life there.

@Custardbanana thank you! We are definitely open to looking anywhere up there so will have a look into the areas you mentioned

Is there a reason why Derby is a no go? 🤣

Are you tied to London?

I agree with the PP who said to move to Sheffield!

What about work?

Some places are cheap for a reason. I’d have a look on indeed for jobs in your field within Derby and see what pings up.

We are definitely not tied to London. We do not have family living close by to us so no family or friendship ties where we are

Job wise - i would continue to work from home, and my husband will get a transfer with the same company

https://www.gov.uk/government/news/uk-house-price-index-for-february-2023

London has always been more expensive.

Only you know if a move elsewhere would work for you (jobs, family and friend networks).

Don’t bother too much on other people’s option of a place (I dislike Sheffield for example but like Derby). Write a list of what you want from an area and shortlist. Spend a weekend in each area to get a feel.

Thank you all, we will definitely find out salary wise what the difference would be moving up north and whether it would be a good idea or just stay put

Most areas have nice parts just do your research.

Think about types of area too - do you want city/urban, suburbs, village, rural.

Also look at school system if Grammar School is something you will be aiming for check these are present in the county.

Derbyshire is wonderful if you like the outdoors, Derby itself, not so much. I'm a big fan of Leicester. Nottingham is ok- no Grammar Schools though.

If you want to stay in London then consider buying a property in Derby and using it as an investment property by letting it to tenants. Then sell it on once you have some equity.

I’ve lived in London, Midlands, Manchester, Merseyside, America, Spain and France. All residential areas and I’ve found life is mostly the same and what you make of it depends on you. I would not live in a city again now because I much prefer the countryside, beaches and mountains. You and your partner need to identify what you want out of an area now in your lives and research research research and research again. Don’t listen to others about entire areas either. When you have whittled down then ask the local community as they will know the areas which are the most desirable but less desirable areas with planned developments can be a bargain too. Good luck.

No catch, just that property is more affordable the more north you go. Nothing wrong with Derby. As the other posters have recommended just do your research. Bad areas exist everywhere and London has more than it's fair share. People criticise the north but sorry, some parts of London are absolutely dire!

I’ve lived in London, Midlands, Manchester, Merseyside, America, Spain and France. All residential areas and I’ve found life is mostly the same and what you make of it depends on you.

This a thousand times.

As a family what we actually need locally to use regularly is a good GP surgery, good schools, nice leisure centre, some shops and good travel links to do the things we do less often. I work in London (very hybrid) but live in a town where we have the benefit of having the spacious home and garden we could afford without detriment to our other lifestyle goals.

We're in the Midlands.

Derby is fine. The town centre is a little run down. But there is a relatively new shopping centre there and Nottingham, Sheffield, Leicester and Birmingham are less than an hour away on the train if shops are your thing. Some of the areas that are closer to the centre might be described in guide books as "vibrant", but to the North and West of the city centre there are nicer areas like Littleover, Mickleover, Allestree and Duffield. There's a lot of blue collar work available in household name businesses like Rolls Royce, JCB, Toyota, a massive free port area going up around EMA and a lot of warehousing jobs available in places like Burton (huge warehouses going up along the A38 at the moment) if you are unskilled. Southwest of Derby there is relatively low unemployment because there is a lot of work to do around there.

Places to avoid outside of the city I would say anywhere north of Belper and into the high peak territory. This is an area where people still pay stupid money for holiday lets (although that will probably end soon) and there is a lot of "development" going on (by development I mean buy a run down damp and hard to heat stone cottage, slap down a bit of laminate and new worktops, put a giant clock on the wall and find some idiot from London who will pay you £200K more than you paid for it).

Derby doesn't have the attractions London has, but you can buy a lot of weekend trips to the capital for the £300K you will save on a house price purchase.

Staying in London only makes sense to me if you can leverage your skills to get a massive salary, otherwise you will just be out competed. So stuff like nurses, teachers a big no for quality of life in London, but in places like Derby they will be comfortable. The only people I know in London that are happy seem to be in fintech or finance mainly.

There are a lot of different areas within Derby, and I can say that a lot of the 'nicer' areas you are unlikely to get the house you described for 200k...

Yes, I agree, a quick scan of rightmove, I would say a 3 bed semi in what I would say is a decent area you are more looking at £250-£300K. Prices do seem to have gone up quite a bit in the last couple of years and in my area don't seem to show that much sign of slowing despite the increase in mortgage rates - maybe because of the port development.

Of course the idea of what constitutes a decent area is subjective, but I think for that price you would get a good place in the catchment area of a good school.

Why Derby? If you WFH the whole of the UK is open to you. Manchester, Liverpool, Leeds, Halifax. There are plenty of beautiful places.

Unless you're the sort that needs to try a new restaurant every day, watch the latest and greatest in the West End ASAP or go to loads of museum exhibits then any of these places out of London will do. Just depends on your desires.

Where in London can you get a 3bed flat for £300k?!

OP said near london. Not in london. I presume she's closer to Essex or bishops stortford for the prices she's talking about

Thing with the East Midlands is that it is relatively compact and fairly well connected transport-wise - so you can get away with jumping between the cities for work/living a lot easier. For example - where I live it's half an hour each way to Nottingham, Derby, Leicester and I can be at the outskirts of Sheffield in an hour. That gives you a huge pool of possibilities in terms of search areas for jobs and houses.

In terms of house prices - we are literally 50/50 between Nottingham and Derby (almost completely ON the county border) - just sold our 2 bed house for £185k I think it was (we bought right at the bottom of the market for £88k which gives you an idea of how things have moved up here) and bought a 4 bed period house for £375k in the last few months. Not the most amazing area according to some on here - but we're basically just out of the edge of a sought after suburb before we get into the dicer bits of the local small town, next to open space and nature reserves and with an outstanding primary around the corner and another very nearby and slightly out of catchment but people normally get in for the outstanding secondary. It's an area I like - but MN will have fits of horror if you suggest living anywhere other than West Bridgford, Darley Abbey or Belper/Matlock type places... I'd go nuts living in Bridgford - not my kind of place at all.

I wouldn't live in Matlock. It's overpriced due to the holiday let business, little to do round there in terms of work and the roads aren't great, especially in winter. I can imagine winter is a bit grim up there, while summer its probably rammed with tourists.

I think you are right about the roads in the Nottingham/Derby area. The A50 takes you west, to Stoke and the M6, the A38/M42 SW to Birmingham, the M1 North/South to Sheffield and Leicester. The only real limit is east, but that leads to Lincolnshire and to be honest there is not much out there anyway.

I think this is part of the reason why there is so much warehousing going up around the A50/M1 Junction and the A38/A50 junction in Burton. You can get onto dual carriageways/motorways quickly that will take you anywhere in the country.

Thank you all for your insights and experiences. There is definitely a lot to sit and think about in terms of which area exactly, schools etc and it's great to read everything on here. We have submitted all our documents to the mortgage advisor so will see what we can borrow and take it from there.. fingers crossed