London Rents

Hiya!

Mort - Firstly thanks for your 'update' - I think with the current turmoil in the economy and it filtering down to actual rental rates and empty time Vs mortgage repayments, some areas are bucking trends and others aren't. I haven't been paying much attention to the local stuff to me (Slough and West London) areas so in other areas of London I agree can be quite different. With some of the people I know and speak to, and of course hearing 'personal' situations I guess my way of thinking was along those lines and not so much as the 'whole' picture I usually tend to look at!  Cheers once again!

NyStacey and other repsondents

I think you've got some excellent responses from people who've done exactly what you're thinking of or who can give some excellent low down on specific areas etc. Sure, if you were to move out further, then monthly British Rail travel costs would eat into potential Rental savings as well as the commute time which I was mainly thinking of! - something to look into ! and from my experience of travelling in from my area all the way to Canary Wharf, it seems a very very popular choice! that said, I do know of close friends who do live there - Isle of Dogs, which according to her is utterly ideal as it means 10 mins to work, 10 mins to shopping (the Canary wharf shopping area!) 20-30 mins into Cnetral London for Partying, and if she wants a quiet night the area she lives in is quiet (her apartment is directly opposite the Dome!) - so if thats something you'd like, don't totally discount living in the Canary Wharf area!

MaryKate - some great advice there too !

Cheers all!

DtM! West London & Slough UK!

Hey. I live near Elephant & Castle, in Southeast London, walking distance to a tube
stop in zone 1, and pay 1000 pounds a month for a two bedroom cottage with a little
yard. At this point we need to either get a roommate or move since we are not
exactly rolling in work at the moment, but I think $1400 a month for a two bedroom
house in an equivalent nabe in NY- I'm gonna guess Astoria- is not bad.  E & C is probably the cheapest neighborhood you'll find on the central London bus map you get at the tube stations. There are lots of nice neighborhoods in London. Where I live is a bit notorious among Brits, but it's not so bad, and so close to the city. There is a lot to choose from
in London and you ideally look after you figure out your income. London is very
expensive, but there is some range. I agree that Whitechapel is lovely- I really
like the East End, but it's gotten quite expensive for a former slum. It's like the Lower
East Side. The only people I know who live in central London are hedge fund managers,
heiresses and itinerants.

I live in Fulham now (just moved) and I would say it reminds me of Park Slope in Brooklyn, with rents about the same along those lines.  I did a flatshare, though, and it's not just my place.  But, the room is massive with it's own bathroom so it's okay by me.

I'm in a similar boat as Stacey although I won't be moving until September! There is still a small chance my fiance and I will end up in Birmingham, but we're leaning more and more to London.

Thanks to everyone for all of the neighborhood descriptions, etc. Despite not having activey but I have definitely benefited! I lived in London for 3 months back in 2000 (across from Battersea park) but I don't remember much about various neighborhoods.

I feel grateful having lived in NYC so at least I have an idea of the kind of prices we'll have to fork over and the hoops you often have to jump through to get a place. I'm in Williamsburg, Brooklyn right now. I could do w/ somewhere less trendy but I like the bohemian air and hope to find a young artsy neighborhood I can afford in London. 

I'd like to also suggest NW London.  Easy access to the city on the Jubilee or Northern lines.  I've lived in St Johns Wood (too expensive for most), Kilburn (LOVED it) & Cricklewood (harder to get to places - can take either bus or train, but decent).  I have friends who live in Willesden Green who enjoy it, West Hampstead is more expensive but I like it (would live there easily) and then there is Golders Green.  The Jublillee line takes you straight to Canary Wharf, but you can also get into central London - so it'd be good for someone who isn't sure where they are going to work.

Just to throw a link your way, this video from moving2london, yes I drop this website whenever London is mentioned!

http://www.moving2london.com/index.php/Videos/suburbs.html It talks about a few of the London suburbs, if you or anyone else is still considering

I am currently moving out of a 2-bedroom unfurnished flat in betweel Abbey Wood and Belvedere because our office is relocating to Bishop's Stortford, Herts.  I have been paying £725, but it seems flats of this size are currently going for around £800 here.  On the other hand, if anyone is interested, contact me because the Landlords want to rent quickly and they might be amenable if I said it was a friend of mine.  It's a 25-30 minute commute into London Bridge.  I move out on Saturday, by the way.

Of course moving out of London, for the same price I am now renting a 2-bedroom house with a lovely large garden only a five-minute walk from my new offices, so I'm a happy camper.

MaryKate your posting is great! Is there anyway on UKY to save people's post into a separate folder for later viewing? A lot of UKYers out there include great links and advice and I would love to sticky-tab it for future reference.

Hi Elenas,

You could use the 'Notify' button on each thread - that way, you'll be emailed a notification to say that particular thread has been updated. So if theres a particular topic that has info you really want to keep up with, you will know in case yer busy elsewhere.

I dont think you can save messages into folders asa such, maybe others know of something similar - so for that, just keep visiting the site each day and scour throught the sections most relevant to you and read up the latest posts !!

Or, cut and paste into a Word document anything you see here that's useful to you. As it's a public forum, I'm under the impression you can do that for private reading at a later point...

cheers! DtM! West London & Slough UK!

hi AudreyNYC...
yes, I like Wiliamsburg, tried to move there a couple times but couldnt find a better deal than what I currently had in the east village, plus the L train in the morning is not my favorite though I wouldnt have minded....
I wonder what areas of London would be similar to where you live now... probably more expensive over there if better located.   Did you figure out where to live?

hi AudreyNYC...
yes, I like Wiliamsburg, tried to move there a couple times but couldnt find a better deal than what I currently had in the east village, plus the L train in the morning is not my favorite though I wouldnt have minded....
I wonder what areas of London would be similar to where you live now... probably more expensive over there if better located.   Did you figure out where to live?

No, I'm still researching although I'm still in NYC. I'll be going to London for the first time on July 14. I'm so nervous about finding a place. I'm hoping to find a broker who can show me places in Clapham and Battersea that are near the park. I have been browsing on gumtree and craigslist and found fairly affordable rent in that area. My biggest fear is not finding a job and really having no idea how to gage what my salary will be like there which is why I'm afraid of getting into a lease I won't be able to afford down the road.  I have seen some small 1-bedrooms in the 800pcm range and hope that we can find something that price or cheaper. I'm so excited about the move but oh so nervous about the job situation!

Are you in London already?

no, I'm not in London yet... I'm still your neighbor! ... but I'm packing and leaving soon!

I'm in a similar boar as you... we arrive without job and clear salary to gauge what our rent should be... so we're subletting shorting term first, as we dont feel a month or less would be enough time to sort everything out    hopefully it will, but we dont want to rush and stress, we'll try to take it easy and have fun
seems like you're only a couple months behind, which will fly, so good luck too!!! 
it'll be great fun!

how about now?     
Have rents come down a bit in the past three months?   

I think so, I hope so.  Prices are not going up at least. 

Has any one been "looking" for the past couple months?

Stacey - not really.  Rents are about the same but definitely have not dropped.  To be honest, in the London area prices do NOT fluxuate that much and will always be at a certain level no matter what.  My husband works in lettings and says the prices are the same as 6 months ago...

that's what they always said about New York / Manhattan as well.


It's easy to find 2008 articles about rents falling, but not that many or not that clear about 2009.  It may be some areas more so than others...   But it's clear that 2009 is not as bad as 2008 so far.

http://news.icm.ac.uk/business/2009-london-city-rent-prices-decrease/2474/

http://www.articlealley.com/article_888676_33.html

http://www.knightfrank.co.uk/news/Knight-Frank-Prime-London-Rental-Index-%E2%80%93-June-2009-results-037.aspx