One bed flat purchase in Ealing

[Claregalway]

Close relative is FTB. Is it worth holding off for another year (still paying rent) to buy. They can’t afford a 2 bed or house in the area and don’t want to live futher out and commute. Worried that it’s all on a downward trajectory - but seems to have been since Bexit - any indication when / if this might reach a trough for 1 bed flats. Or are we just going to see more and more released by LLs?

I think the market is flat but not sure waiting a year is going to make up for a year paying rent. Flats near tube stations are best. Look out for service charges.

If the alternative is renting they may as well pay their own mortgage.

https://www.theguardian.com/money/2026/aug/08/flats-in-england-not-selling-slashed-prices-buyer

There is now more awareness of the problems being a leaseholder, short leases, ground rent, service charges, in addition to the traditional concerns of there being usually no outdoor space, flats not holding their value as much as houses. I can’t see there being a way back for flats.

In your friends shoes, if the flat has a long lease, is share of freehold, and they’re not bothered about potentially selling at a loss in the future then I would go for it but only if the mortgage will be much less than what they’re paying now in rent. Otherwise I would keep on saving to buy a freehold house.

I'd try to wait a year and save for a two bed because the only get one get at the first time buyer stamp duty. I have a one and got stuck in it, tons of fees, had a baby, got stung with nursery affordability, and now he's five. I would have been better waiting and renting. We are finally ready to go on the market soon!

Buy the flat as long as they realise flats do not go up in value like a house ( most flats are dropping). A house will then get further out of reach in the future. Best is to try and save more to get a house later.

Lots of people now stuck with flats they will never sell bought that line.

It’s difficult to say what will happen in the next year. We had family that bought a huge top floor flat huge 1 bedroom flat with parking, leasehold and low maintenance fees that had 2 offers in under 4 weeks, in December 2020 and sold. I appreciate that the market has since changed. They didn’t make a great profit on it but was a very welcome home for 8: years. If they are happy in their rental and it works for them, I would probably think about saving more money to try and get a 2 bedroom house. I think flats will always sell, people always need a home.

Well anything will sell for the right price! But London flats are NOT shifting at all atm. I’ve seen flats that went on the market for £500k in January now reduced to £300k.

I would wait as I think it’s still playing out. I would really try & avoid a flat though.

I am selling a central London flat and noted the market has started to pick up this summer. We found a buyer for ours fairly quickly, and I notice the ones that are reasonably priced on the market at the same time have all sold. I think now is a good time to look around as many owners (including us) have accepted that they need to make a loss, so you have good bargaining power. I don’t think it will fall much further though as many people may just choose to sit and wait if that is the case.

Isn’t it still better than paying far more in rent? They’ll have zero housing costs in retirement.

I know a few young people at work who have skipped the flat stage & bought a small house in a cheaper area. It makes sense when you factor in moving costs/stamp duty & any potential service charges.

Oh, absolutely, if that’s affordable. For most people looking at flats, it probably won’t be or they want a particular area.

They all compromised on area, so traditionally they would have bought a flat in z2/3 but instead they have gone for houses in z4/5. They plan on having dc though & don’t want to be trapped & were concerned about houses moving away from them.

Tbf even if you remove the “flats losing value” aspect stamp duty makes moving fairly prohibitive so it makes sense to me. We hope to move again but I should have just gone bigger with my last purchase, I didn’t know that things would go this way at the time.

Ground rent and service charges to pay when retired.

Not really, depends what and where they rent, rents are driven by wages and demand, mortgage debt is driven by the bond market, as immigration falls and the chances of recession rise rents are going to fall whereas mortgage debt will spike up at the slightest problem in the ME or if AB fumbles the economy (very likely IMO) stuck paying a mortgage for 30 years in a high rise chicken coop that you will never sell with escalating service charges just isn"t the "better" outcome in any scenario, at least if they rented many people could just go home to parents if things got tight.

And repairs.

That’s shocking @titchy- what area is that? I would imagine not many people with a significant % mortgage who bought from 2016 could even take that cut.

Are you seeing 2016 prices as the peak for central London flats?

Yes at least in the next 3 years. Beyond that I’m not too sure - noone can really. Personally I think the price outside of London has gone up so much while London has fallen, so the affordability gap is smaller now and people will eventually recognise that.

Thanks that’s interesting - so central London flats are in a trough of 2016 prices and likely to stay that way for a few more years?

@Okigen I agree, i think it will start to ripple out to other areas.

Yes I think so. But as I said earlier I don’t think it will have room to fall much further, which is why I think this is now a good time to look around. For example in my area the price fell dramatically between 2016 and Covid. Since then it has fallen further but at much slower speed and sort of plateau now. On the other hand, rent has gone up significantly so if FTBs just sit and wait they may just eat up their savings. I think that’s partly why we had more viewings and offers than we hoped for.

That’s really helpful @Okigen - is your assessment for prime central London only ? Or would you say suburban Ealing was similar.

that’s all very well if you have the money to go bigger. A one bed flat in zone 4 might be the top of someone’s budget, in which case I would argue the security is better than renting providing it doesn’t have extortionate service charges and the lease is long.