Non-motoring > Cost of living in London	Miscellaneous
Thread Author: movilogo	Replies: 34

Fri 23 Dec 11 10:39   Cost of living in London - movilogo

How do people, who earn national average, manage in London?? Reply to this message | Report message

Fri 23 Dec 11 10:46   Cost of living in London - Stuu

Wrong question. Should be the London average wage given the North/South pay gap. Reply to this message | Report message

Fri 23 Dec 11 11:15   Cost of living in London - Westpig

>> How do people, who earn national average, manage in London?? >> Before I left...my junior colleagues would live a long way out and commute. They couldn't afford the housing within the M25. Some staff qualified for assisted housing. I know of one manager who rents a room in London and bought a place in Cornwall. His retirement destination is sorted and there's a ready made long weekend destination. Reply to this message | Report message

Fri 23 Dec 11 11:20   Cost of living in London - Fursty Ferret

I'm coming round to the idea of buying a house in Manchester and renting it out (£800/month in Didsbury) and just renting a flat when I move to London. Think London property prices are still artificially inflated. Reply to this message | Report message

Fri 23 Dec 11 12:18   Cost of living in London - Runfer D'Hills

I should really live in London. I need to be there a couple of times a week on average and could justify more in reality. Notwithstanding the cost though, I really don't want to. After a day or so of the hateful place I'm always glad to see it in the rearview mirror rather than through the windscreen. Not that where I live is Shangri-La either and I'm well used to city life but London is just so stressy. Reply to this message | Report message       1

Fri 23 Dec 11 14:10   Cost of living in London - Londoner

Maybe London is stressy, but us locals are used to it. On the flip side, when we go out into the country the contrast is greater for us, and this makes the countryside even more enjoyable. Reply to this message | Report message       1

Fri 23 Dec 11 20:46   Cost of living in London - Harleyman

>> On the flip side, when we go out into the country the contrast is greater >> for us, and this makes the countryside even more enjoyable. >> Provided that, when you retire there, you don't start complaining about the way us peasants go about our daily lives. When in Rome, etc.... ;-) Reply to this message | Report message

Fri 23 Dec 11 18:10   Cost of living in London - Westpig

>> Think London property prices are still artificially inflated. >> Law of supply and demand. Reply to this message | Report message

Fri 23 Dec 11 18:14   Cost of living in London - Zero

>> I'm coming round to the idea of buying a house in Manchester and renting it >> out (£800/month in Didsbury) and just renting a flat when I move to London. Think >> London property prices are still artificially inflated. You cant artificially inflate house prices. They are priced at a level that sells. Reply to this message | Report message

Fri 23 Dec 11 18:25   Cost of living in London - Armel Coussine

>> You cant artificially inflate house prices. Didn't the sub-prime scam have that as a short term effect? But it was a brief bubble. Reply to this message | Report message

Fri 23 Dec 11 18:31   Cost of living in London - Zero

As was said - it was supply and demand, it wasn't artificial it was real. Reply to this message | Report message

Fri 23 Dec 11 18:41   Cost of living in London - RattleandSmoke

It is staggering how much things have changes, my grand parents were a secretary and a plumber, and they could afford a brand new car, and a mortgage on a large 3 bed house in the posher parts of Fulham. They sold up in the early 70's and ended up in the North East. It is one reason I love living in Manchester, a good quality of life on a lower wage yet London is only a two hour commute away. I can be in central London in two and a half of hours of me sat in my bedroom. Reply to this message | Report message

Fri 23 Dec 11 18:41   Cost of living in London - Fursty Ferret

>> As was said - it was supply and demand, it wasn't artificial it was real. >> >> What about government backed 95% mortgages? Reply to this message | Report message

Fri 23 Dec 11 18:48   Cost of living in London - Zero

No-one has got one yet, so you cant use that for past house price inflation. More to the point, I bet you a month's beer money that no-one ever sees one in the future either. Reply to this message | Report message

Fri 23 Dec 11 18:49   Cost of living in London - Armel Coussine

The mortgages weren't real, the money wasn't real, the expectations of the buyers and the tertiary investors weren't real, and the resulting price spike wasn't real. Only the houses were real. And being American houses most of them will have fallen down by now. Reply to this message | Report message

Fri 23 Dec 11 18:51   Cost of living in London - Zero

>> The mortgages weren't real, the money wasn't real, the expectations of the buyers and the >> tertiary investors weren't real, and the resulting price spike wasn't real. >> >> Only the houses were real. And being American houses most of them will have fallen >> down by now. It was all real - it happened. Reply to this message | Report message

Fri 23 Dec 11 19:00   Cost of living in London - Armel Coussine

>> It was all real - it happened. Yes. Property prices really were artificially manipulated as a secondary effect (but the price spike was certainly factored into the original scheme in some way) of a massive banking and mortgage fraud apparently winked at by the US government of the time (and all the others). Reply to this message | Report message

Fri 23 Dec 11 19:31   Cost of living in London - Zero

Ok, how far have london house prices dropped in the last 5 years? In the words of Humphs hero They hav'ne. Last edited by: Zero on Fri 23 Dec 11 at 19:32 Reply to this message | Report message

Fri 23 Dec 11 20:19   Cost of living in London - Dulwich Estate

Barnes is a nice suburb in the SW but blighted by Heathrow aircraft noise. You can pick up a 3-bed semi for a couple of million quid - I kid ye not. Edit: In the interests of accuracy I just checked on Right Move. I was a little over the top as a 4-bed semi is around £1.8m and a 3 bedder only £1.5m. Last edited by: Dulwich Estate on Fri 23 Dec 11 at 20:22 Reply to this message | Report message

Fri 23 Dec 11 20:23   Cost of living in London - Old Navy

We will see how much houses are worth when interest rates hit 15%, and don't say impossible. It has happened before. There are some very big sub prime mortgages out there. Retire debt free with an index linked pension, it is the only way. :) Last edited by: Old Navy on Fri 23 Dec 11 at 20:25 Reply to this message | Report message

Fri 23 Dec 11 20:43   Cost of living in London - Zero

>> We will see how much houses are worth when interest rates hit 15%, and don't >> say impossible. It has happened before. In london? the same. when interest rates hit 15% it did not a jot to the london market. >> There are some very big sub prime mortgages out there. >> >> Retire debt free with an index linked pension, it is the only way. :) yeah we are a dying rare breed tho. Your pension may not stay index linked all your life tho. Reply to this message | Report message

Fri 23 Dec 11 20:47   Cost of living in London - Old Navy

>> Your pension may not stay index linked >> all your life tho. >> Pensioners are voters and there are a lot of us. The politicians are just bright enough to understand that one. Last edited by: Old Navy on Fri 23 Dec 11 at 20:49 Reply to this message | Report message

Fri 23 Dec 11 20:49   Cost of living in London - Zero

they have already chopped a chunk of your index linking off (and mine) Last edited by: Zero on Fri 23 Dec 11 at 20:49 Reply to this message | Report message

Fri 23 Dec 11 20:52   Cost of living in London - Old Navy

Only a small chunk. They are not completely stupid. Last edited by: Old Navy on Fri 23 Dec 11 at 20:53 Reply to this message | Report message

Fri 23 Dec 11 20:53   Cost of living in London - Zero

death by a thousand cuts. That was just the first. Reply to this message | Report message

Fri 23 Dec 11 20:54   Cost of living in London - Old Navy

I will be past caring by the tenth. :-) Reply to this message | Report message

Fri 23 Dec 11 21:22   Cost of living in London - henry k

>> We will see how much houses are worth when interest rates hit 15%, and don't >> say impossible. It has happened before. >> >> In london? the same. when interest rates hit 15% it did not a jot to the London market. >> I was looking at my deeds the other day and we moved to a more expensive house when mortages were 15% in 1980. It was a move totally of our choice and we just accepted the rate. I have not noticed any drop in prices in my area but just increases in asking prices. A near neighbour has just moved a couple of streets away and the price obtained and the price paid were still eye wateringly high. Reply to this message | Report message

Fri 23 Dec 11 21:51   Cost of living in London - henry k

An indication of what sells. This tiny strip of scrub land was developed. I have not seen a row of such tiny new semi detached ( and one detached) houses built on such tiny plots anywhere on my limited wanderings in the UK. These house have NO back garden whatsoever as the rear wall of the house is at the bottom of an embankment of a railway line. There is the main Waterloo line on an embankment behind the the houses on the other side of the road. The old main Portsmouth Road is a few yards away. There is room to park a small car in the front paved area. But they do sell. www.zoopla.co.uk/property/birdseye/10-brooklands-road/thames-ditton/kt7-0et/11813352 www.zoopla.co.uk/property/16-brooklands-road/thames-ditton/kt7-0et/11813357 Note the AVERAGE price of property in the area is approx £500K to £550K. Reply to this message | Report message

Fri 23 Dec 11 23:47   Cost of living in London - crocks

>> I have not seen a row of such tiny new semi detached ( and one >> detached) houses built on such tiny plots anywhere on my limited wanderings in the UK. Well today I saw a terrace of three new houses on a tiny plot on the A240 between the A3 and Kingston. I used to live close by and could not believe what they had squeezed in. Main road location. No parking. Three foot back garden. One bedroom. 480 square feet. £300,000 tinyurl.com/dx6ssl8 Reply to this message | Report message

Fri 23 Dec 11 23:53   Cost of living in London - Dulwich Estate

£300,000 frankly looks a good price there. You'll pay that for a flat. Reply to this message | Report message

Sat 24 Dec 11 00:00   Cost of living in London - Armel Coussine

A friend of my daughter had a unique terrace house in Goldhawk Road like a tall dolls' house, less than ten feet wide but forty or fifty feet high. It had been a shop and still had a bijou ground-floor shopfront, so pretty the owner couldn't bear to do away with it. Charming, opened up a bit inside (but only vertically and fore-and-aft, the width was fixed all the way through) but of course ultimately quite small. Quite valuable too I would think. Reply to this message | Report message

Sat 24 Dec 11 00:01   Cost of living in London - henry k

>>tinyurl.com/dx6ssl8 >> I will drive by and have a look as I am frequently in the immediate area. Reply to this message | Report message

Sat 24 Dec 11 00:07   Cost of living in London - crocks

henry, I've driven past the ones you referred to many times and I knew you would know where the A240 ones were. It is just such a horrible main road location. I also saw there are now ice warning signs on that section of road! Reply to this message | Report message

Sat 24 Dec 11 00:29   Cost of living in London - henry k

>>It is just such a horrible main road location. >> Plus the noise from the school. If the wind is in the wrong direction the Berrylands pong will arrive. The road in the old days was the toll road over the hill. I bought one of my Cortinas from Curry Motors when they had the showroom at the top of the climb. ( Motoring link) Two / three years ago spent a lot of time in Surbiton with my daughter flat hunting for her flat so got to know the area even better. She found a flat. It was withdrawn from the market. A few months later the silly vendors put it back on the market but the prices had plunged. They were very unhappy at having to accept a price several 10s of £K less. My daughter was lucky as she bought at the bottom of the dip in prices. Reply to this message | Report message

Fri 23 Dec 11 23:51   Cost of living in London - Dulwich Estate

When we moved in the late 1980s we were lucky to just catch a 2 year fixed rate mortgage deal of 12%. If I remember rightly the variable rate went up to around 14% during our fixed period and we were thrilled at our good fortune. Now I have no mortgage but some savings and the rate is very low - c'est la vie. Times change....and change again. Reply to this message | Report message