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I'm an european citizen who just moved to London and I can attest that is insane trying to find a room in London. A room! I'm not even talking about a house. I

by ilurk 11y ago

I'm an european citizen who just moved to London and I can attest that is insane trying to find a room in London. A room! I'm not even talking about a house. It's so complicated that there are flatmatting speed dating events. I've been to 5 or 6 now and the ratio is like 15:1. There are even ads on the tube for websites with that purpose. I've spent more than 2 weeks as a full time job! trying to find a place is at walking distance (0-15m) from a tube station. Any! tube station. And there are a lot of them. Finally settled with long term Airbnb room. Which was what I should have done in the first place! 750£ for a room, which is on par with what is being offered in non-Airbnb sites. To put it in perspective the average salary in London is £35k, which gives ~ £2,240 liquid per month. A studio costs you between 1k and 1.5k. Add bills, council tax, transportation (which is quite expensive), and you don't end up with much at the end of the month. If you're emigrating to London and don't have a job and no friend to help you – despite having money – go with Airbnb. If you insist on ignoring that advice, then please avoid agents like the plague! They'll ditch appointments making you waste 2h, ask for 12 months upfront, and leech their 250£ commission from you for basically doing nothing. In the recent years there has been more people moving into London and fewer houses being built. London has a housing problem and the Mayor should fix it. Right now we have a generation of young people in their 20s to early 30s living in houses of 3 to 6 people. This is just nonsensical to me. If you are unable to have your own life in order then how are you supposed to go further and do things like constitute a family. Hence the birth rate decline and the need for a crazy influx of immigrants. In the name of what? Banks and real estate? https://www.london.gov.uk/sites/default/files/Housing%20in%20London%202014%20-%20Final.pdf https://www.london.gov.uk/sites/default/files/Housing%20in%2...

harryc2011 11y ago
I assume that you mean any tube station within Zone 1 because otherwise this is just not true. For 1.5k you can rent a 2 bed flat in Zones 2-3 and get much more than this further away if you're willing to flatshare. I have a friend who shares a 4 bed in Morden and pays something like 650pcm all in.
- acrooks 11y ago
  That seems a bit high to me. I pay £650/month all-in for a room in a three-bed just around the corner from Stockwell station. Granted, my room is small, and the only real common area is the kitchen. But the only thing I need in London is a bed and a shower, I'm spending most of my time not-at-the-flat. So it feels like the inflection point between location and price.
- ilurk 11y ago
  1) Forgot to add the zone but it's a room in zones 2 or 3. 2) Mind that I was searching for a room, so I haven't looked much into studios, but I haven't been able to find a studio for less than 1000£ for a short let. Note that there are "studios" which are in fact shared with other people in the same house, so not really a studio.
IkmoIkmo 11y ago
35k average salary might not tell the whole story. e.g. the median figure for inner London is about 34k, bit below the average, but for outer London it's 24k. Then consider that inner London is about 3 of 8.5 million people, and 12 of 32 boroughs, so I wouldn't be surprised if the median salary for all of London was below 30k. Of course salary doesn't truly matter much in the city of finance, a huge chunk of the city's income is not linked to wages or derived from wage labor. Anyone considering moving to London has to appreciate that the city is partially tuned for a group of people for whom a base salary isn't the main source of income, and if that's not you then it's a bit like living in a giant auction house full of millionaires and they're auctioning off everything you need, from sandwiches, a home to live in to a public transport card, and the rich guys keep bidding 5x the national average on any item and more rich people enter the auction house every day, buying anything becomes a struggle.

by ilurk 11y ago

harryc2011 11y ago

I assume that you mean any tube station within Zone 1 because otherwise this is just not true. For 1.5k you can rent a 2 bed flat in Zones 2-3 and get much more than this further away if you're willing to flatshare. I have a friend who shares a 4 bed in Morden and pays something like 650pcm all in.

acrooks 11y ago
That seems a bit high to me. I pay £650/month all-in for a room in a three-bed just around the corner from Stockwell station. Granted, my room is small, and the only real common area is the kitchen. But the only thing I need in London is a bed and a shower, I'm spending most of my time not-at-the-flat. So it feels like the inflection point between location and price.
ilurk 11y ago
1) Forgot to add the zone but it's a room in zones 2 or 3. 2) Mind that I was searching for a room, so I haven't looked much into studios, but I haven't been able to find a studio for less than 1000£ for a short let. Note that there are "studios" which are in fact shared with other people in the same house, so not really a studio.

IkmoIkmo 11y ago

35k average salary might not tell the whole story. e.g. the median figure for inner London is about 34k, bit below the average, but for outer London it's 24k. Then consider that inner London is about 3 of 8.5 million people, and 12 of 32 boroughs, so I wouldn't be surprised if the median salary for all of London was below 30k. Of course salary doesn't truly matter much in the city of finance, a huge chunk of the city's income is not linked to wages or derived from wage labor. Anyone considering moving to London has to appreciate that the city is partially tuned for a group of people for whom a base salary isn't the main source of income, and if that's not you then it's a bit like living in a giant auction house full of millionaires and they're auctioning off everything you need, from sandwiches, a home to live in to a public transport card, and the rich guys keep bidding 5x the national average on any item and more rich people enter the auction house every day, buying anything becomes a struggle.