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Maybe. We own our flat in Zone 1 (Soho, 48k down payment, 12k closing costs) after 5 years saving, mortgage is 2.29% ~ 1900 a month. Save about 2500 a month. Th
by Sholmesy 5y ago
Maybe. We own our flat in Zone 1 (Soho, 48k down payment, 12k closing costs) after 5 years saving, mortgage is 2.29% ~ 1900 a month. Save about 2500 a month. The one thing I will say is that the "single tax" certainly exists in London, and I find my situation affordable because I have no kids, and my partner brings in an other £35k or so. If we wanted a 3 bedroom or something, forget about it. That's when it becomes absurd to live in central and totally prohibitive.
Also, my experience with London companies + recruiters in the last 3 months has been that permanant remote roles have been cropping up. I would say its about 50/50 of whether a job requires any on prem time, and about 90/10 that the job requires 1-2 days a week on prem.
- dogma1138 5y agoWhat flat did you buy in Soho for 480K assuming that it was a 10% deposit, or a better question would be when…
- Sholmesy 5y agoI've said way too much PII already, but it's on HMRC/Land Registry if you want to look it up. Bought in 2019. Non-council.
- dogma1138 5y agoFor a 2019 purchase there is no way that’s more than a studio maybe maybe a tiny 1 bed, if I want to buy where I rent now (W2) I’m looking at 1M+ for any two bed that isn’t a 50sq/m lower ground closet, the non council is a given I don’t think there are any council properties in Soho… The 2 bed flat I’m renting got recently evaluated at 1.7M it’s very nice and very large (for London)but the lease remaining on it is 68 years and the Victorian building it sits in would need a lot of work very very soon so the buyers are looking at 350-400K bill within a few years of buying the flat (leasehold renewal and building repairs) on top of that which also is why the current landlord is looking to sell. As it stands now if you want to buy a property for £600K you are looking at £60K deposit, £20K stamp duty and probably another £20K for misc costs. £600K is a below what an average new build in a Zone 3 would cost you these days outside of the few units they reserve for HTB. If you can save £3K a month you’re looking at 3 years of saving. Since most people / couples would struggle to save even £1K a month especially in their early careers they are probably looking at a decade of saving for a property or even more if the house prices keep on rising as fast as they are now.
- vr46 5y agoI stayed at my ex's flat in W2 around twenty years ago, the estate was selling 2-beds for 240K then - are you suggesting those flats are over £1M?? I dare not look at prices. Edit: Reader, he looked at the prices Found almost identical flat at 499,999K, so coming in at less than Millbank flats were going for in 2016. Those flats are only £25K more now. This seems perfectly doable for software engineers who have a good permanent job or are contracting.
- dogma1138 5y agoWhich site are you looking at? The only flats in my area around 600K all have a huge asterisk the leasehold on them is about to expire so you can only buy them in cash. https://www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/114810275 https://www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/114810275 https://www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/109851434 https://www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/109851434
- vr46 5y agoWe lived in NW1, W1H and SW1 for fifteen years and it was totally doable with two earners even starting on a perm salary of 35K, and as the income increased we stayed, but within three years of kids arriving, it was clear that we needed to make a choice. Stay with a two-bedroom in Zone 1 - and pollution etc - or jet to Zone 4 and triple our space. Five years later I think it's more feasible to stay in Zone 1 or 2 with kids as the air becomes cleaner and you should have saved up enough to find a bigger place. A friend travels from Zone 1 to 4 every on the train for the school run, so it's perfectly doable given flexible working.