Trying to buy a house in this area is near impossible

[Help-Ma-Boab]

Even the 100's are now out with my pocket around here...

MrBen Wrote:

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> 1000.

[danrees]

EDLove Wrote:

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> Totally agree with you Jeremy. A lot of people

> would rather pay more to live in a nice area, even

> if it means less living space.

Not questioning the principle - but just the relative values. Is ED really worth double somewhere like Hither Green?

I suppose I am saying that in the current market ED seems dramatically overvalued compared to surrounding areas. Is it really worth 50% more than Forest Hill? I'm not so sure.

[PokerTime]

They are debating this on Question Time now, and specifically London. Harriet Harman is on the panel.

[Ramble66]

The prices in hither green have gone mental too.I doubt you'd get a 3 bed near the station for 550K now. The whole south east has sky rocketed.

I personally don't think ED is worth the premium. No offence. We were sad to leave ED but love where we moved to and could still be in ED within 15-20Minutes or a fiver taxi ride.

[Earl Aelfheah]

It is impossible to talk in general terms about whether or not ED is 'worth' the premium. It depends entirely on your circumstance, a subjective judgement of the area and how much that premium represents to you.

[Penguin68]

It is impossible to talk in general terms

Probably the right personal model is to look at opportunity cost/ benefit - what can't/ couldn't you do having paid the 'ED premium' which you want/ wanted to do - what can you do which would otherwise (in a different location) have cost you to do? If you don't/ didn't live close to LL or the Dulwich green spaces - would you have travelled to find them or their equivalents, likewise schools etc. Are your friends local to ED - if they are, would you find new (and equivalent) friends if you didn't live round here.

Unless you are a buy-to-let purchaser then you are choosing to live somewhere, so think of the value (or not) of ED to the way you live or want to live. That may help determine whether the premium is worth paying.

[Twirly]

I totally agree with you Penguin. We all make judgments about what is important to us and what we are prepared to compromise on, and those things change according to what stage of life we are at and what our priorities are. I would have loved to stay in ED, but simply could not afford the "premium" for the space we needed, so had to compromise. We are loving where we are now, but sometimes it's not until you've made the move that you can appreciate what the compromise gains you.

[MrBen]

I reckon fear plays its part too. There are incremental waves of people who will only move to a new area with each stage of gentrification. I heard someone (new arrival?) recently describe East Dulwich as "much safer and less gritty than back in 2006" (!)

[Jeremy]

Yeah it was pretty gritty in 2006. You couldn't find a good baby reiki practitioner for love nor money. And none of the cafes even knew whay a babyccino was... can you imagine that?

[Twirly]

LOL! I think I prefered it back in 2006. Not that gritty, but certainly a bit more normal and less nappy valley, a broader mix of people. Victim of it's own success, but I can't complain as I have done well out of the developments.

[Jeremy]

Actually not convinced the changes in the last 8 years have been that significant. The changes in the previous 8 years were much more noticable.

[simonethebeaver]

We've just remortgaged and the difference between the estate agent's valuation and the surveyor's was ?215,000 less for the surveyor, which was in turn ?35,000 more than we'd put on our application form, and ?220,000 more than we paid for our house two years ago.

[????]

MrBen Wrote:

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> 1000.

Schoolboy error MrBen......only in the Lounge

[Help-Ma-Boab]

Double aspect living room with central fireplace in this market ????'s

???? Wrote:

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> MrBen Wrote:

> --------------------------------------------------

> -----

> > 1000.

>

> Schoolboy error MrBen......only in the Lounge

[Spyragyra]

To state the obvious - as the saying goes - something is 'only worth what you can get for it.' Until something is actually sold it's just a guess as to what it's 'worth'. People these days seem to be obsessed with 'nice shops and caf?s' and with home working may be less bothered about transport. So people prepared to pay to live in ED.

[wavyline girl]

What about the people who are from this part of London, and find that their kids can't live in the area because prices have become so stupidly inflated that only the rich kids can afford to live round here.

What's more - Its only going to get worse.

[PokerTime]

There's been an exodus of London born and bred out to Kent for some time now. Government policy seems to be that affordable housing should be for key workers only. So in it's purest form, London could end up as a ghetto for the better off with just keys workers dotted here and there to provide the essential services they need. I don't think for one minute that would happen but there are certainly political ideas out there that seem to think that's how it should be. Within all of this, there is no debate around community, and what that means.

As for 'gentrification' for want of a better word, it's no mystery. As prices rise in one place professionals seek other areas they can afford. There's no hiden agenda to it. It's just people finding places they can afford to buy within their means. There are many towns and villages in the South East (and much of the most desireable parts of the country) where the children of parents will never be able to afford to buy. I thinks its right to ask what damage that will do to local communities long term, and to local economies too.

[danrees]

wavyline girl Wrote:

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> What about the people who are from this part of

> London, and find that their kids can't live in the

> area because prices have become so stupidly

> inflated that only the rich kids can afford to

> live round here.

> What's more - Its only going to get worse.

People say this, but I don't see why it is any different to people like myself who have had to move to London from their home towns to find work. This means leaving families scattered all over the country. I have no immediate family (other than my wife!) within 200 miles.

[Cyclemonkey]

It's been happening for years all over the South East. I cannot afford to live in the Kent village i grew up in. House prices are not as mad as London but at least here in London i can get a well paid job.

My partner was born and bred in central London, he and his family have progressively been pushed further and further out. We rent in SE15 at the moment (an area i moved to in 2000 as a young graduate cos it was all i could afford) but we will have to move on soon if house prices and even rents climb any higher.

[Jeremy]

Having grown up in an area does not, unfortunately, entitle you to live there many years later as an adult.

[hpsaucey]

Jeremy Wrote:

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> Having grown up in an area does not,

> unfortunately, entitle you to live there many

> years later as an adult.

Maybe not but its a sad reflection on society where the only 'entitlement' is based on 'loads a money'!

[Cyclemonkey]

It doesn't but it makes aspects of society harder. Children no longer around to care for ageing relatives, grandparents not around to help with childcare, communities losing their roots. Healthy communities are a mix of old and young, rich and poor. The village i grew up in is very sad now. 150 houses and it is all second homes and older residents. There are no children left.

[miga]

.

[Jeremy]

Yeah of course it's a shame if people want to stay in an area but can't. I'm not totally unsympathetic to people in that situation, but there is nothing new about rising house prices and gentrification. I don't think it's a sad reflection on society at all... areas change, people move on. There are lots of reasons why the current situation is bad, but I don't think this is one of them.

[hpsaucey]

The 'sad reflection on society' is my view on 'entitlement' to live in an area being determined by dosh only - and that I'll stand by. (I"m not saying people/society as a whole agrees with this approach, but that's how its panning out). Yes gentrification ebbs and flows and has done so for a long time. Doesn't make it the only way/best way for communities to evolve/change.

But then I'm somewhat left wing. Something's gotta give. Others will have their own stances of course but that's mine ...

Jeremy Wrote:

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> Yeah of course it's a shame if people want to stay

> in an area but can't. I'm not totally

> unsympathetic to people in that situation, but

> there is nothing new about rising house prices and

> gentrification. I don't think it's a sad

> reflection on society at all... areas change,

> people move on. There are lots of reasons why the

> current situation is bad, but I don't think this

> is one of them.