I see London rents when I go down there for work. People paying £800pcm for a room in a 3 bed house. I pay less than that for a mortgage on a 4 bed in the subu

I see London rents when I go down there for work. People paying £800pcm for a room in a 3 bed house. I pay less than that for a mortgage on a 4 bed in the suburbs, and most of that is equity repayment. Ie the cost is about 1/10th of the price of renting. When you have kids, in the UK you need to own as otherwise you're stuck with a 3 year lease at most, if the landlord decides to whack up the price, or simply sell up, you get maybe 2 months to move. That's a pain when you're a young professional, but when the kids are at school and you can't find anywhere available in that tiny time period, you're screwed.