81–90 of 117 posts
There are plenty of places to relocate.
"Are there no prisons?" "Plenty of prisons..." "And the Union workhouses." demanded Scrooge. "Are they still in operation?" "Both very busy, sir..." "Those who are badly off must go there." "Many can't go there; and many would rather die." "If they would rather die," said Scrooge, "they had better do it, and decrease the surplus population." This isn't JUST about privileged young would-be urbanites having to live a f…
It's maddening that property owners can vote against new construction, when they have a deep conflict of interest. The community may require housing, but the homeowner has an interest in seeing housing prices go up forever. It's similar to this ridiculous notion that expensive housing is a good thing. We give absurd tax breaks to homeowners (why can't I deduct the lost interest on my rent?), and people lament falling…
What? London is full of new housing under construction. Many of the flats will be tiny as well. The problem (for those trying to live in the city) is that the houses will be hugely expensive. For London in particular, the problem is that there are too many people who want to own a house there. That's why the prices are high. You can't call the place underdeveloped, it's not a lack of supply due to regulations. If you…
It's full of empty housing too. This happens when people try to use housing as a means to store their unimaginable wealth.
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That's what I suspect, but it's crazy. The average salary in London is £27k, a senior dev will earn 3x that (I'm guessing). And that's still barely enough to live comfortably. I guess that's the point of the campaign in the linked article, but I can't see how that will change, unless the financial bubble bursts.
I think £27k is the UK average or the southeast average? I thought the london average was closer to £60k? I can't find a source for that though.
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As I understand it, the problem is that new construction is outstripped by increasing demand. Hence the increasing prices. I read an article in The Economist's recent suburbs/cities issue where they said a lot of the problem lies in how people are prevented from developing the green belt.
And rightly so, IMO. At some point you have to accept that you aren't in London any more, and the green belt is as good a point as any to do this. Much better than an interminable urban sprawl.
Perhaps your top-level comment was right: London has just reached capacity. But I'm not convinced of that, either; there are plenty of bigger megacities.
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£1500 for the mortgage, plus bills, council tax, land rent, home insurance, repairs, etc... that is around £2000 per month not counting food, travel, clothes and entertainment. So realistically you need to earn £3000 after tax to be able to afford it, which translates to a pre-tax salary of £50k. We are lucky to earn more than that but the vast majority of people I know would not be able to do it. We barely feel midd…
That is £50k for two, so £25k each ? That's about UK mean gross income and below London (2007:£27,868) Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Income_in_the_United_Kingdom
Single earner with 2 kids living in London on top-1 percentile income here. 60% of that monthly income is going towards rent, taxes and utilities for a terrace in Zone 4, plus nursery charges for our toddler. My wife can't find a job here, as she's an ex-journalist, and not a native speaker. No tax allowances (due to £100k+/y income) and no recurse to public funds (I'm on Visa, and not an EU citizen) doesn't help eit…
Or, ya know, do what everyone else does and commute in?
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"even with the handsome salaries senior devs earn" People working at Google etc think they're paid handsomely, but in reality in London they are paid a fraction compared to what you can get in the financial sector. This article and the comments here talk about software developers and graphic designers, and the reality is there's a whole community above you earning much more. That's who's able to buy the houses.
That's what I suspect, but it's crazy. The average salary in London is £27k, a senior dev will earn 3x that (I'm guessing). And that's still barely enough to live comfortably. I guess that's the point of the campaign in the linked article, but I can't see how that will change, unless the financial bubble bursts.
Many people live comfortably in London for far less than 90k gbp, it all depends on your expectations and requirements.
This is depressingly true. I just exchanged contracts on a 2 bed flat in zone 4 that will leave me and my gf with a 300k debt. If it wasn't for her stable job in town I would think about going somewhere else. And we know that we will probably never be able to upgrade to a bigger place if prices keep rising at this rate since our income will not increase at the same speed. I wonder if London will become a boring rich…
> 2 bed flat in zone 4 that will leave me and my gf with a 300k debt. Sounds like you got lucky then.
I also left London recently, although I moved due to the weather. For every 29-year-old graphic designer who moves to Cambridge to buy a family home, there's a 22-year-old who's just started their career who's willing to live in a bedsit in Wood Green (as, coincidentally, I did at 17, trying to break in to the big city). You're meant to get older, and move out of the city. Circle of (urban) life. Give it 50 years, an…
>You're meant to get older, and move out of the city. This is the perspective of someone who moves into the city from their suburban and small town homes and families. They plan to make a lot of money, meet a partner and drink a lot, get married, get a dog, have a child, then move back to the suburbs in a senior position at a remote BigCo to a house that looks just like the one they grew up in. Most people in the cit…
> Most people in the city were born there
You can't get figures for how many were born outside of London very easily, but glancing at my Facebook feed for the first ten people I know who live in London, only one was born there (and he's from Enfield, which might as well be Scotland). This percentage feels about what I'd expect.
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Or, ya know, do what everyone else does and commute in?
Zone 4, two hours a day commuting already.