London first time buyer: house v flat and which areas to look at?

[GoldOnyx]

I’m a first time buyer looking to buy in London and I’d appreciate your advice please.

I earn £40k in a stable job in London (public sector), so would be eligible for a £180k mortgage (going by being offered a mortgage 4.5 times my salary). I’m very fortunate to have a £520k deposit, due to an inheritance. My budget altogether is £700k.

I’m unsure whether to buy a house or flat, and which area of London to buy in, and would appreciate your thoughts please.

Re buying a house v flat, my head is telling me to buy a house, for reasons of future-proofing (although currently single with no kids) and as houses are generally better investments and you can do work on them. Re buying a flat, I’m tempted to buy one because it would better suit my current needs and lifestyle (don’t need somewhere big). However, I’d prefer a freehold flat for flexibility and cost reasons, and these aren’t very common, and would also like a garden, so my instinct is saying to buy a small-ish house that I can extend upwards/outwards, with a garden.

Re which area of London to buy in, many areas are of course completely out of my budget. I’d like to live somewhere with good access to transport (within 10-15 mins walk of a tube or train), zone 3 (ie not too far from central London) and that’s pleasant to live in. I rent in Acton (west London), but can’t afford to buy there. I’ve mainly been looking at Streatham, as it’s within my budget, and it’s a nice area, but I’d be very grateful for any other suggestions anyone might have re areas to look at.

Thanks!

OP - 4.5 times your salary is a big mortgage. £40k unfortunately isn't a big salary for London.

Have a very careful look at how much disposable income you want each month and what you want to be able to do with it. Travel, socialise, join clubs, hobbies etc.
Paying the mortgage is one thing but council tax, utilities, insurance, food bills etc all add up.

Having a nice flat/house is lovely but how much of your free time do you intend to spend in it? Will your socialising or hobbies revolve around being in your home?
Having to live frugally, worrying about money every month, worrying about being made redundant and being unemployed for months etc - all worth thinking about.

Location/commute, transport, local amenities etc are all important too and will impact your quality of life.

Penge, Clock House and Kent House are all really good areas and affordable. You can get a train from Penge East to Victoria in 18 minutes and there are four trains an hour. You also have the option of Penge West and trains to Croydon or East London/City.

I live in Penge and I have the following stations all within 6 to 15 minutes walk: New Beckenham (for Charing X, Waterloo and London Bridge), Penge East and Kent House (for Bromley, Victoria, Brixton and Orpington), Penge West and Sydenham (for London Bridge, Canary Wharf, Canada Water and Highbury). Plus loads of bus routes and even the tram to Croydon.

It's far better connected than a lot of people realise. Plus about eight large parks within 5 to 15/20 minutes walk.

@HelloPossible yes but most Neighbors in houses will be families / couples. How on earth can you meet single guys or girls living in suburbia 😀

I think on the friendliness/socialability point, the PP wasn't specifically referring to making friends with your direct neighbours and more to social life in the area in general. Although by the bye the best and most friendly relationships I've had with neighbours have been in blocks of flats in London, in semi-detached suburbia yes it's 'naicer' people i.e. more middle class middle aged people but I've found beyond the odd chat over the garden fence about parking or bins people keep themselves to themselves on the whole.

But as OP's stage of life her socialising is probably going to be with uni/work/hobby based friends for which being more central is easier (those friends tend to be scattered across London and wider so meeting up more centrally is usual) and she probably wants good bars, restaurants, cultural stuff, nightlife etc. Later on in the married and kids phase, you tend to make more local parent friends and prioritise parks, playgrounds, leisure centres and so on which is better in suburbia...

Like everyone else does, you honestly think single people living in the burbs don’t go out on the town? and have other single friends? The clue is in good transport to central London. Weekends in the burbs are full of dressed up young people going into town, one of the reasons nightlife is so dire there is they are competing with the best in the world in the west end. The most social person I know lives in Croydon and out to west end clubs all the time but has a garden and a house. Dear Lord save me from this.