This isn't meant to upset anyone but WHY do people live in London? I really don't get it when its so expensive.

[fishnet]

Obviously those who earn trillions of pounds in the city can afford it but why does ordinary Joe bother. Surely the salaries aren't that much higher that it compensates for property prices? Or am I wrong?

SIL is pregnant and needs to move from a one bed rented flat in central London. They are looking at two bed semis for about half a million pounds. Up here you could get a large five bed for that. I really don't get it. How do people manage?

We love where we live, but I accept that we are quite well off. I'm from London (suburbia!) anyway.

I could equally well ask the question "Why does anyone live outside London? I just don't get it." It is just as daft a question.

I don't think that salaries are high enough to compensate for the difference in property prices. However, there are more jobs and more variety of jobs. It is very difficult to carry out some kinds of career outside London.

It is definitely possible to find a 2 bed semi near Wimbledon for less than 500K. Perhaps, not in Wimbledon but certainly near Wimbledon.

Although houses are expensive, if you do live somewhere like Wimbledon you have great shops/theatre/restaurants/cafes locally, acres of common on your doorstep and you have great transport connections to central London. And ofcourse you have Wombles. It is well known that there are no Wombles in the Midlands.

wouldn't live anywhere else

sarf of river isn't London and plane noise is hideous

ibundle - what are you talking about ?

Message withdrawn

wombles is a very good point. We have a severe lack of wombles.

I did say I didn't mean to upset anyone. I meant how do people afford it.

The jobs pay much better in London.
My DH would earn half his current salary if he didnt work in London.
I'm a SAHM now but when I worked it was in fashion. Now we dont live in London I couldnt get a job here in that industry even if I did want to go back to work! A different job wouldnt earn me enough to pay for childcare!

London is great. If we could afford a big enough house there we'd move back like a shot!

DP and I were both born in London. We like living here.
And career-wise, he can't really work outside London, so unless he commutes for hours each day ( which he doesn't want to do) we have no choice but to stay put.

interesting point re: wombles

we afford it by living in a 2 bedroom flat

I like to visit london, lots of things to do and see. Ds says that it has the best food in the world. I wouldn't want to live there though as I would hate:
not having a garden
the crowds
the poor schools
the litter
the pollution
living in a tiny house
the crime levels

So I would agree your sister is mad.

i've always preferred Paris myself.

We're moving back to London from New York in September, and yes we'll be paying a fortune for housing. But that's because we're choosing to live in West Greenwich which is extortionately priced - there are plenty of cheaper areas to buy property in.

Saying that, I've always wanted to live out of London but we have to stay here because it's where our jobs are. We work in investment banks and you just can't get the jobs out of London!

If she looked in Southfields (or Kingston Vale or Roehampton or several other nearby areas) she wouldn't have to pay nearly that much.

actually, we are looking at relocating to Manchester, and will be worse off!

Admittedly house prices are cheaper, but the drop in income is significant enough to mean we'll have less money in our pockets. And we are but lowly public sector types, so I bet the difference in the private sector is huge.

There are other costs too. In London the buses are dirt cheap compared with Manchester (90p flat fare vs £2!), we don't need a car (in Manchester we may need 2 cars), and there is an abundance of free stuff to do.

we want to be nearer family in Manchester, but by God, it's going to cost us .

Why wouldn't people want to live in London?

It's diverse, full of culture, amazing architecture, a mainly very good transport system and ALWAYS something to do. You have museums, galleries and so many different types of restaurant/cuisine on offer. Theatre, ballet, street performers, lovely big parks etc. I get a buzz just walking down the street and looking around me.

You don't get that London feeling anywhere else, yes it's expensive but living in London is priceless.

Lots of people (like me) are London born and bred and have roots and family there. There are great things about London as well as all the bad things. DH is from the West Midlands and would not back there!

Also it is ok to say wages are not that much lower in other places and houses are cheaper but the choice to jobs is just not the same. DH is an IT contractor would be worried to move too far from London as it would cut his work options drastically.

we have:
not having a small garden
the crowds exciting things going on like dd1's concert at the Union Chapel the other night, she'll be in the Folk Prom workshop at the Royal College of Music next weekend too
the poor schools dd's at good school, 10 mins walk from home, they usually take their bikes/scooters
the litter - ok, there is litter, isn't there everywhere???
--the pollution not the most polluted place I've lived in (has to be Cleveland)
living in a tiny house - yes we live in small flat
the crime levels crime in London hits the headlines but there is a lot of violence in other places eg Nottingham, Manchester

Lol,Perkin.
We moved up to South Manchester last summer with DH's job. Only to find it's just as bloody expensive as the south. We lived in London then Surrey but I'm loving it up here. No way would I move back down. DH's salary didn't change much at all which was just as well.

Because I absolutely love it here!

Because if you live anywhere but London it is just a teensy bit boring and you spend your whole time saying "Oh such and such is just as good/better than London" which kind of shows it's not iyswim. Quite fancy Oxford on days when the tube is playing up though.

Hello staranise - we got our dd into the local school by the way, not the really good one but one we can walk to so phew.

Well, let's face it, there aren't any threads discussing the pros and cons of living in Norwich now, are there?

we are able to afford it as we started on the property ladder in london so have just moved up it
dh does have a good salary but it wasn't always like that
I love london wouldn't live anywhere else tbh
there is so much to see and do as everyone says
we live in sw london and have things like bushey park, richmond park and the river very close by