Has anyone made the choice to continue renting in London?

[boretzia]

We rent a gorgeous one bedroom apartment in Central London. It’s reasonable, and we can decorate how we like. This kind of property would easily cost £1m due to the area. That’s insane. We have no interest in moving further out or to a cheaper area. We would rather leave London than move to an area of London which isn’t considered ‘naice’.

Career wise, if if either of us makes partner the we will easily afford the kind of property we want in central. If we don’t, then we will leave London and go for a slower pace.

Our current thinking/plan, is to save heavily/invest rather than purchase a very expensive flat. Of course we understand this means we can’t be certain we won’t have to move et cetera. But with interest rates rising and house prices falling, we are not keen on committing to a huge huge mortgage.

Plenty of nice areas outside of Zone 1 but if you aren't interested and you're able to save significant amounts on top of your rent then of course it makes sense for now.

Thank you. Completely agree that there are nice areas outside of zone 1/2 but it seems that these are often really expensive too. So much so that it doesn’t justify the longer commute for us.

Just make the decision that suits you! Sounds great!

I live in central london and perfectly understand your dilemma. I suppose the only thing to consider is your ages. You might like to be mortgage free asap and the quicker you buy the quicker you can pay it off.

I understand and would probably do the same as you

The more they can save the smaller the mortgage to be cleared ;)
Definitely think it's better to focus on saving for now whilst the prices settle down, some current predictions expect a further 20% off London prices over the next couple of years too - which would make it a no brainer to wait...

Good point! The area we live in is also pretty much all Georgian property… so it costs a lot to upkeep

Invest, and build the lives you want.

The alternative is buying somewhere you don't want to live and either having to live there, or having the hassle and expense of renting it out.

Thank you. It’s just difficult to be happy with your own decision when everyone else seems so hyper focussed on property ownership. I guess living centrally in a global city is just so different to the rest of the UK.

I don’t think people are obsessed with property ownership - I think most people who can buy, want to. Why spend £20k+ a year on rent when you could be spending it paying down your mortgage? I understand not wanting to move further out and ending up with a long commute, but I couldn’t ‘throw away’ so much money if I had another option.

How long is the partner track? Could you buy something and rent it out or otherwise invest in a way that covers your rent?

I think if you have a great property and importantly a good, responsive landlord who fixes things when they break, then it’s an entirely understandable lifestyle choice. It’s when you have a landlord who doesn’t respond or keep the place decent that you start valuing home ownership as the ability to fix things yourself!