The "average London price" also includes properties that very wealthy people including billionaires buy. This is usually the mean average whereas the median is a more realistic average. I have also rented and owned in Southfields. I bought when interest rates went up in 1990 and this depressed prices. Then Southfields prices increased because people couldn't afford Wimbledon prices. We sold our two bedroom flat in Southfields and bought a five bedroom house in Colliers Wood and extended it to a seven bedroom house. Colliers Wood prices increased because they were south of Wimbledon and Southfields (north of Wimbledon) were perceived as out of reach of a lot of people. Colliers Wood has had a lot of housing built recently and being built in the future and although you would think that more properties would depress prices it actually increases the prices as better shops flood the area. CrossRail is being built now and CrossRail 2 is being planned. Tube lines are extending to Battersea. If you think about all the factors that affect property prices you will find that you can buy a cheap house in an area that becomes desirable. That is a lot better policy than just dreaming about houses that are too expensive for you. I spent a lot of money and hard work on a run down house that was totally refurbished and extended and is now worth about six times what we paid for it originally although we spent about £200,000 doing it up and we had to live in it while all the work was done. My wife's from Poland and it is normal for people to build their own houses over many years while living in a small part of the house. British people expect everything on a plate.
If you are a couple you would only need two salaries adding to £100k or you get something cheaper than average to begin with. Not everybody can have average - unless nobody gets better than average!
There's always going to be people who can't attain some things. That's not a reason for nobody to be able to achieve anything.
That's all well and good. The issue here is over what you perceive to be a "cheap" house. Pretty much everything beyond a garage was too expensive for me in London. I know many people who would love to build their own house in the Uk. The option isn't there because inane housing policy in this country makes land with planning permission prohibitively expensive. I look forward to interest rates rising and giving me my window (i'm predicting around 2030 to be the point where the uk economy is healthy enough that they can raise base rates back up to 0.5%).
Agreed but the difference betwen the south east bubble and the rest of the UK is so great now that more things are becoming unattainable by more people.
If you look at the list of out of work managers it's huge. http://www.thesackrace.com/job-centre I think there's also a lot of people not even on the list. They become a manager once, get sacked and then never offered a manager's job again.
There's still plenty of places on the edges of London or further out with fast rail links that are quite cheap. People can always try that for a few years. My step daughter bought 25% of a flat and over a few years gradually bought 100%. There's lot of ways to do it.
I'm always amazed at the number of properties on the market for £50,000 to £100,000 in Hull city centre.
When I'd moved into a flat and got BSkyB a lot of City fans came round to watch us play at Middlesbrough on a night. I think we lost 3-0.
I was just trying to take the heat off sterling. Also disappointed that no one seems to have noticed my knight rider puns.
Favourite to be next Fulham manager apparently (6/4) - why on earth have the bookies predicted such short odds when it surely seems impossible given the gulf in team quality and form?
