Would moving out of London be the right choice for us?

[missflissy]

I’m from Liverpool and grew up here. Dh is from abroad. I have lots of family in Liverpool. I like the area but after living in London find it a bit slow/old fashioned? It’s just because it’s a small city. Both DH and I are lawyers. We want to start a family but don’t feel like we can afford to do it in London. We’ve bought a small place here in a decent area with less than an hour commute door to door.

But we feel (like many!) for how much we earn and how hard we work we have very little to show. We’d like an upgraded house and lifestyle and less work. Realistically this isn’t going to happen in London. Partnership at our firms in London in slim, but that’s that. We’ve paid a big big chunk of our mortgage off so it’s been worth it. Our two bed flat here would buy a nice family home in a posh area in Liverpool.

In your position, I would think about a different large city - Birmingham? Manchester?

Manchester prob better, more expansion fewer headlines about corruption. Leeds?

Id move in your shoes. With kids the city lifestyle dwindles to a degree anyway! Or maybe Manchester and commute to Liverpool?

I’d go Manchester in terms of job opportunities and increased quality of life. We loved london to Manchester when we had DC1 and it was the best decision we ever made.

A lot of it is about the lifestyle and people. London is brilliant if you have young children because of the walkability, activities, interesting parents, and childcare infrastructure. There are a lot of areas where nursery and childminder provision is dire, and it makes it hard for both parents to work. Make sure you have options.

You can easily live in 700sqft if you have once dc or until you have a child who's 9/10 and needs their own room. Nobody minds if you have a slightly-too-small flat in London as loads of people are doing it.

If it were me I'd wait a year and see what happens to incomes and house prices! It could look quite different in 2024/25, but I don't know which way.

Absolutely about people and lifestyle but things change so what suits now may not later
Nice to be near family as you and
they age Free babysitting

I lived in London in my 20s. Have since moved to Birmingham and spend a lot of time in Manchester as well. I still go to London regularly for work or to meet friends. 10-15 years ago I think you could make an argument that there are a lot of things in London that you can't find anywhere else but I don't think that's the case anymore.

DP and I are foodies so we make a point to try different places that have a buzz about them when we go to London. The last few years we've been underwhelmed because while the places are decent, they aren't any better than places we've tried in regional cities. The big difference in London is it has more of everything, but if you pick the right neighbourhood or are willing to make a bit of an effort you can probably find most things in Birmingham/Manchester now.