London’s housing crisis: I joined the exodus of priced-out thirtysomethings (The Guardian)

[inanna]

If you see me in London any time soon, promise me one thing. Promise to look the other way. Don’t smile. Don’t wave. Under no circumstances should you ever be tempted to say hello, because that will be the end of you. I know what will happen. I will grab your arm, grin, then ask you, in tortuous detail, how much your rent is.

Because, as I promised back in September, I have finally become a post-Londoner. I have ditched the grimy shackles of the capital and set off for the countryside (for the uninitiated, “the countryside” is post-London for “anywhere in the UK that isn’t London”), and I can’t shut up about it.

I have moved to a new place, in a new town, and it’s cheap. It’s got a garden, and a dining room. It has even got stairs. Stairs! Do you know how much stairs cost in London? They are about £15,000 each. And I have loads of them! I’m a stairlionairre!

I am not alone in this sudden zealotry. London has burst, and it is leaking thirtysomethings all over the place. In October, the National Housing Federation reported that the only way for a first-time buyer to afford a typical London mortgage at the moment is to earn three times the average salary, and even that is assuming that you have already managed to save a £102,000 deposit from scraps of income that haven’t instantly been blasted out of your bank account by fripperies such as rent and transportation.

Link: http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2014/dec/17/londons-housing-crisis-i-joined-exodus-of-thirtysomethings

Good article on this issue. I may move to the UK at some point in the future (apparently I'm eligible for dual citizenship). But I will not be looking to live in London.

[d_r]

1. Ashford still looks dreary to me

in the photo of the street

[dixiegrrrrl]

2. Substitute London for San Francisco or NYC.

Same here.

We could never afford to retire anywhere on the West Coast.
Many retirees have found other affordable areas in the USA.

[inanna]

3. I've been reading quite a bit about

the housing shortage/cost issue in NYC. London as well.

I wasn't aware it was as much of a problem in San Francisco.

Here in Canada most of the larger cities are also becoming unaffordable to many.

[dixiegrrrrl]

4. Late 1970's, Vancouver BC went nutz with housing prices

As did Seattle.
The most recent booms have to do with very rich people buying up apts and houses for cash.
Little affordable places are left in Cal. at all now.

[inanna]

5. The prices in Vancouver right now

are INSANE.

Just did a quick google myself on Cal. and you're right.