London prices £1.3 million to 3 million

[Subprime]

Anyone have any observations about this (very broad) bracket for London houses in the bracket of £1.3 million to £3 million?

Have you sold a property recently in this bracket and was it easy?

Have you bought recently in this bracket and did you have much competition? Did you pay over the asking price?

We have equity of about £1.5m and have been looking to trade up. The reason for the broad price range in the headline is it reflects houses priced in the rung below us and also our absolute maximum purchase price (that we would move heaven and earth and sell everything for).

We have been looking in more expensive areas and it strikes me that there’s either nothing coming on the market or it’s still going up compared to what we would have paid less than 2 years ago.

I was dismayed at how much people who had not maintained let alone improved their homes are asking for when we went to viewings last summer and was convinced they would have to take a hit. How wrong I was: all sold above asking price

Do you think redundancies and slow economic growth will inhibit the London market or will it forever be immune?

From an economic point of view, it has nearly always made sense to trade up in London.

However, given that we have an ageing population, will there be the same demand and ability for the current Gen Y/Z to buy these homes for a decent price in 15 years or so when we are ready to downsize?

If anyone can point me to any good economists’ projections specific to London please do! The general property price thread is too broad hence I’m trying to start one on decent sized
London homes (but not mansions).

If I had £1.5m equity, I would be buying 7/8 houses and renting in a nice area in London.

I moved from a very central London borough out to a more unfashionable suburb. I was happier with a shabbier house rather then a more 'done' one because I think people do strange things. I also really wanted a big fairly private garden. I paid £1.8 million and spent another 500k on renovations.
It was hard but I love my house now. I just couldn't believe how awful modern houses are - vast grey mausoleums - with massive double length windows at the front. All flash and no substance. My other pet hate is where people have done loads of random extensions. So you have odd shaped rooms or bedrooms miles up in the roof. And no storage.

Only looking online, don’t want to get into dialogue with an agent and be hounded right now. We get those “looking for houses in your area” leaflets through pretty much every week.

You’re right about the school fees and property price venn diagram. And the bigger the house the more children they are likely to be funding.

Our house is not in a prestige state secondary catchment and our child is indeed privately educated. We only have one though, which helps!

Mirabei don't be ridiculous. Just keeps undesirables out.

I came across a great website called Landworth that I used recently. It pulls data from Rightmove and Land Registry, providing insights into the price per square foot/meter. The platform offers a few free searches before requiring payment. I personally used it in my recent home purchase and was impressed by the level of detail you can drill down into, it even tells you if it sold at auction and can tell you the planning class on the building if you're interested in that

I have lived in Westminster for many years - the general impression I get from estate agents' written reviews is that London prices are not rising and are in fact
down eg Kensington and Chelsea in particular. Do you follow the property news in London Evening Standard? Their section Homes and Property right now has article how London prices are most affordable since 2014.

lovely house. The little dining table and chairs in that massive room made me giggle though.

I think this is true. I have friends from SEAsia who were looking to buy in central london hotspots but now put off as they are saying the prices have gone down and they're worried they'll make a future loss.

london is expensive but for those buying in the expensive areas now, it doesn't necessarily mean there is profit to be had in the near or longterm future. It's also riddled with subsidence in many areas.

would you consider Notting Hill, OP? I lived there (rented) and really loved it. It's multi-cultural too and close to High St Kens.

Depressing to say this is the cost of an "ordinary family home" in most areas of London now. Which is why we're stuck in a terrace £450k cheaper and won't be moving.

Er, my terrace is a perfectly nice family home! I really dislike the idea that a proper home has to have a side door and driveway. Very suburban.

Is there a single house left at this value there?!

@Heather37231 yes so is mine, lol! But what I mean is that the EA speak for "family home" is usually semi or detached with decent garden etc. In London that takes you well into OP's bracket

Ie: the bracket it not "premium" property

Factor in the stamp duty and management costs and London rent for the size needed for OP's family and that doesn't stack up at all

OP what do you actually want and where?

your list of areas is very wide. Don’t you have some you want to live in more than others?

you mention your kids are settled in schools so that must focus where you are seriously looking a lot?

i think the west London market, which has a lot of international buyers operates differently as does north, south, east and then as others say there are micro markets within that.

in general the weak £ will have encouraged international buyers in your bracket - London will have looked good value compared to other international cities in the last few years following the £ post Brexit slide.

when we next move we’ll stay on our part of the compass - we’re currently just outside zone 1 - and our choice will be how far into zone 2 or 3 we are prepared to go for what trade off on size of house vs commute vs other pluses or minuses.

there is a street 5 mins from us that looks great with nice houses for £2-2.5m that change hands regularly.

but I assume that’s because people move there and THEN realise it’s a commuter rat run blocked with traffic every weekday morning.

i disagree ‘not much on’ means the market is boyant. Around here little is marketed unless there is a reason eg probate sale.

that was always parts of it, lots of boomers around here in family homes for 30 years or more.

but in a rising market you also get people buying and selling very few years as they get excited by how much they’ve ‘made’

around here stuff with obvious compromises sits and doesn’t sell, I assume because the seller won’t accept that they are not now going to get £200k more than their neighbour sold for a couple of years ago.

Yeah, well, EA speak is mostly BS! I was pregnant when we moved into our house and the first thing our new neighbour said when I told him was “thank goodness, I couldn’t understand why only 2 of you would want to live in that big house!”. The family we bought from had 4 kids.

How to tell people you know nothing about the London property market

The only problem with @Sdpbody 's plan is the capital gains tax and the changes to rental income make being a landlord really unprofitable and at times a massive loss making exercise that you still get taxed on! But I genuinely admire your ingenuity. Buying the property through s company could make sense actually…

We are looking at Herne Hill and Dulwich and it seems crazy money for the quality of housing and a non-central area. Nice clean streets, decent parks but poor transport links, dull shops unless you venture to East Dulwich or Brixton and very very difficult to find a house that doesn’t have a busy road running a few metres away from it. There are a probates or a few baby boomers downsizing and wanting insane money having done a botched job extension 20 years ago. I would also rather live in a shabby house with charming period features and there are too few of those in the area. If someone on here is reading this and selling in the area PM me! We have a buyer patiently waiting for us to liberate our house…

Compare the house in Highgate I posted a link to for 3.35 million with the ones I will link to next…

This has just one under offer so clearly I’m wrong about poor value: Nice road but very narrow house:

https://www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/140611256#/?channel=RES_BUY

Here’s one which looks lovely but it’s nearly 4 million for a semi with a railway line in the garden:

https://www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/140543603#/?channel=RES_BUY

This one is £2 million for 7 bedrooms. Great value right? Oh it’s a collection of bedsits with a terrible kitchen. No problem, let’s extend. Oh what do you mean there’s no garden for £2 million? We expect that in zone 1, not zone 3:

https://www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/143375327#/?channel=RES_BUY

Everyone has different taste. I prefer this one to the Highgate one.

The Highgate one is very pretty from the outside but grade 2 listed would be a PITA and the layout was pretty random.

This one has a much more sensible layout but is still attractive

Court Lane Gardens, the first of the two links above, is one of the nicest places to live in Dulwich. If I had the money, it's where I would buy and I know the area very very well. Houses rarely come up on that Road.
Lots of the larger houses get sold off market and it's best to be in contact with the agents rather than checking rightmove.
North Dulwich could be a good option for you too, around Beckwith Road/Ardbeg.
PM me if you'd like any info about the area.
I'm not an EA btw!

Very narrow?

it’s more than 7 metres wide.

thats not narrow by London Town house standards.

its also big nearly 300 sqm is a lot that’s where the money goes

you have to be realistic about the area you are looking in. I don’t know south well, but if it has a lot of big roads running through it then it does.

and the few streets further back from main roads will command a premium