Depressing what you can afford in London

[whiteshi]

Dp and I after years of saving are just about able to scrape together a flat deposit. Even using all of the first time buyer reliefs, it’s depressing what we can afford. Then we are looking at payments of £3000 a month for 1 bed flat or tiny 2 bed.

Have looked at buying out in Kent and commuting but the commuting costs eat away from any saving.

We’re in Hampshire because London is ridiculous.

Do you have to be in London? Can you work elsewhere?

It's awful isn't it. DH and I bought 15 years ago and we thought prices were high then! But no way could we buy our house if we were first time buyers now. So many of our friends and family are either stuck renting for eye watering prices or have been forced to move away.

What's your max budget and where do you need to get to for work etc? People might be able to suggest areas to look at.

I'm selling my flat in Zone 3, and splitting the difference with exH. Neither of us can afford a flat with our portion so will have to rent until our child goes to uni. A ridiculous waste. What I have considered is packing up and going back to my county town where I can get a decent sized two bed house for under £250k. And I can still commute to the capital.

This is why employers paying typically lower wages in caring, hospitality and public services are struggling to recruit. That, and Brexit of course.

It's absolutely awful, I truly feel your pain.
It shouldn't be so hard to get a normal home on a normal salary.
If you want to stay in London I would recommend looking in the Southeast and in Bromley. You can definitely get a decent 2-bed that won't cost you £3000 a month. Possibly more like £2000. You may have to consider an ex-council flat if you want a flat that is affordable and spacious - that's basically what I did and it worked out well. I do appreciate it's not for everyone, but I had a good experience living on a council estate -friendly neighbours, kids playing out, good management company that was on the ball with maintenance. And we had a manageable mortgage. DH and I have just sold the flat and are trading up to a 3-bed home in a leafy area of London as our salaries have increased over the years and I switched careers and now earn more comfortably (I'm 40, he's late 30s). So that's one way of doing it. We didn't want to leave London as our jobs are here and we have family ties to the local area so we were motivated to make it work in a less glamorous (but perfectly serviceable) home!

But what's your overall budget for buying a house? I'd have thought you'd be looking at more like £2,000 a month. Of course, London is massive, with huge variety.

Can you work elsewhere? Maybe Leeds or Manchester?

I think commuting from Kent would be miserable as well as expensive.

3k monthly mortgage is indicative of a large mortgage and salary. What's your budget and where are you looking?

Hope this isn't another post complaining about London being unaffordable but then poster is looking at central zones and nice areas that have always been unaffordable....

It's dire isn't it!

Exactly. 3k monthly mortgage is roughly a £550k flat (assuming a deposit of 5-10%). There are plenty of decent flats to buy significantly cheaper than £550k!! Yes, you may have to make compromises on size/location but that applies everywhere unless you're a billionaire.

What about Dartford and areas like that? I'd not buy a flat if I could buy a house personally.

And there are areas in zone 4 where 550k would get you a 3 bed terraced house.

What areas in London are you looking at op?

You have to admit though, you aren’t getting much property for £550k.

To afford £3k a month in mortgage seems like a huge sum and you’d need a high income to service it - one might expect you could afford something quite nice at that level.

I actually disagree.

Now's a good time to buy a flat in London as prices in many areas are significantly lower since Covid. For example, where I live on the border of zone 1/2 in a gated development, pre Covid a 1 bed flat would have cost £450-500k. Now you can get one for under £400k. A 2 bed flat was £750k before Covid, now they're closer to £550k. It's a very desirable development - flats don't come on the market very often as they're usually sold privately (if sold at all), often to tenants who like it so much that they decide to buy here, or to existing owners who add another flat to their portfolio.

But you need to do your research.

Have you looked at shared ownership?

With a budget of £550k???!!! 😂

Where did she say her budget was £550k? ??!!!

Someone worked out that with 3k a month repayments, that's the flat price. I'll admit I've taken that as Gospel further up the thread and not done my own calculations on it.

Yes, zone 1 is expensive...

You can easily buy in zone 4 for £300-£400K, even cheaper if you're not too fussy about kerb appeal. Still a large amount obviously but do-able on two average salaries with a £50k deposit.

OP said £3k per month mortgage. Given a 5-10% deposit, that means a property costing approx £550k. (And yes, I've done the calculations)

Edit: to be more specific, a property costing £550k with a £50k deposit will cost £3,012/month as a mortgage payment based on the interest rate being 5.3% over a 25 year repayment period.

£3k per month is quite a lot. How much is the flat? My neighbour has just bought the 2 bed upstairs for £360k (albeit it's just the size of a big one bed). This is Bermondsey near the tube station, if down to South Bermonsey, Surrey Quays or anywhere without the tube, much cheaper. By any chance are you buying new build?

There’s a middle ground between a box in zone 1 and moving out to Kent.

Zone 3 East London, you could get a cute 2 bed Victorian terrace with a garden and still be half an hour into the city.

£3000 mortgage per month is a lot so I assume you have a fairly decent budget - maybe we could suggest areas you might not have though of if you give more details on your budget and non negotiables.

https://twitter.com/ArmandDoma/status/1775167879060815895

"It blows my mind that UK politics is not an endless, 24/7 screaming match about the housing crisis. London has Detroit wages and San Francisco rents and yet people are still anxious that it is adding too much housing."

Could you tell me where this is please? DS keeps being outbid on places, think he needs to expand his search