Where to move in North London ?

[kokos1]

Hi everyone!
We currently live in East London with our 10-month-old baby and are planning to move to North London. However, we're unsure about the exact location. Our goal is to pass 4+ assessment at one of selective private schools in North London (Highgate, Channing, NLCS, Habs). Before that our baby will likely attend Mulberry House Nursery, (not far from West Hampstead), though we’re on a waiting list.
We are ok to moving again in 5-10 years (better in 10 😅).
Ideally we’d like a house, but would consider nice flat in the right area too.
Would be great if there some cafes and pretty shops within walking distance.
Our budget is 1m.
I would greatly appreciate any thoughts or recommendations. Thank you!

Hi there, We made a similar move, from Highbury to west hampstead about a year ago when we were pregnant. Good in you for knowing enough about MHS to get on the waiting list. We are in May 2024 intake. Do you know where you are on the waiting list? They don't explicitly say, but they give you a rough idea of chances. They give parents until the term before their LO is due to start to give notice, so hopefully you should see some movement. Good luck on that front.

Re locations, for that budget, you could get something comfortable in West hampstead. Granted, it won't be a large terraced house with garden. Probably a comfortable 2 or 3 bed with a garden (converted maisonette) - nw6 2 is more affordable than nw6 1. The roads off west end Lane and towards kilburn. That way, you'll have the best of West hampstead high street, the community and the affordability of not being directly IN Wh. Not sure much is on the market now though, but have a look. You'll be in reasonable commuting distance to MHS and up the hill to the Preps at 4/7. Good luck.

Hi, Thanks a lot for your response! We’re checking West Hampstead but no luck so far with our budget :(

Re Mulberry - they said that waiting list is moving a lot and they will be able to offer a position soon. Hopefully “soon” means couple months 🫢

Belsize Park? Lovely area, very commutable and I’ve never felt unsafe there even walking down towards Camden in early hours of morning alone due to shift patterns. Very family centered with lots of cafes and mum groups. Should be just within your budget as I was curious the other day and did a little right move search locally.

Hi! We currently live in nottinghill in a rented flat. We are now planning to buy a house and are considering if we should move to Harrow/ wembley. We are both indians but have never lived in an Indian area before so are not sure. We both work in central London so if we move it will be a longer commute but we are finding the prospect of connecting with community attractive specially as we get older. Any thoughts ?

Sorry to say but £1m in Belsize Park will only get you a 2 bed flat with no outside space. Should be fine with only one child. I don't think that budget will give you a house (try Cricklewood). I wanted to live in Belsize Park/Kt and to buy a house I had to spend double your budget. If you aren't realistic you won't find anything.

Tufnell Park is nice or Dartmouth park - some of the streets are close to Hampstead Heath. You won’t get a house for 1M unfortunately but would get a nice flat.

Just checked on Righmove & actually there are some small houses listed at around 1M in the areas I mentioned but most are looking quite tired & dated at that price point.

Haverstock Hill is a nice area with pretty shops but expensive, sigh.

@ReadyToMoveNow you should repeat your post in a new thread of your own to get replies.

Yes, I did :) posted in this thread by mistake and could not find an option to delete. Thanks 😊

West Hampstead is lovely but not a great commute to any of the schools you've listed. I'd recommend looking carefully at how your commute would work.

there are other nice schools in the area too - St Margaret's Hampstead if you have a girl.

Primrose Hill

Bloody hell. London is like a different country

Have you considered Bounds Green? You could buy a large house there, or else Alexandra Palace for a maisonette /parts of Muswell Hill.
coaches go from there to the schools, although you wouldn’t be close the nursery (there are plenty of other great nurseries though)

Primrose Hill fits the brief apart from its way too expensive