Renting in London and New York

[picosgemeos]

"There's no need to be an asshole, you're not in Brooklyn anymore"
No Destruction, FoxygenI've been thinking lately about the cost of living in London and, in particular, how long I can make it here. It seems to be a feeling shared by many in my age group (late 30s, early 40s) who don't own property and live in large metropolitan cities in western

Comments

[naturalbornkaos]

Man, I love Penny Arcade and that's a great (tragic) quote : "New York is no longer the place outsiders go to reinvent themselves - it's the place where the ordinary go to replicate the places they come from."

It's hard to know how to feel about the east end. I guess these things go in cycles in London. It'll be somewhere else soon enough and everyone will flock there instead and leave the east end to go back to how it was before.

Ultimately, the most depressing thing about all of it is how awful people who work in property tend to be.

[picosgemeos]

It'll be somewhere else soon enough and everyone will flock there

I was talking to Kevin about this yesterday: what if there's nowhere left to go?! What if everywhere becomes too expensive and people like us have to move away from London. I find the property speculation in London completely out of control and unrealistic. Tiny, horrible flats being sold for half a million pounds. It's a proper pyramid scheme.

Like New York, if you want to come to London and reinvent yourself, you now better have a good paying job beforehand or a trust fund.

[fj]

There truly isn't anywhere. I have computers scanning for a place to buy for me, and within my considerable anywhere-else-but-London price range, I find... one-bedrooms in Walthamstow that have appreciated 200% in 3 years because someone re-tiled the kitchen and bathroom, and ex-local council you can see the mold on the real estate pics beyond Mile End. And I have dough.

The current left-over revelation? Shadwell. It's like a forgotten enclave.

[picosgemeos]

I wonder what it is about Shadwell? I've been there a few times (a friend lived south of it so I took the 339 bus to the end, which was there, and then walked.) It seemed full of council housing and mostly a Bangladeshi community. That might be the reason - the lack of cafes and Victorian housing!

(Who knows, maybe we'll be neighbours). :-)

[androktone]

What's happening now is that places that never used to be considered part of London on the commuter belt are being rebranded and marketed abroad...
We spotted a new block of luxury flats (!) In Luton town centre (with most of the town centre photoshopped out) up on a certain property website for £500k for a 2 bed... branded "London Luton, 10 mins from an airport,  30 mins from Kings Cross" which isn't technically a lie (there is an airport and a fast train to kings cross) - but it's three times the price and local person would pay for a two bed flat, regardless of the luxury kitchen appliances. They might get bought offplan by someone in china with a hazy sense of geography..
I'm not yet sure what that means for the rest of us that live here. Historically Luton's criminal reputation and lack of charm or historic architecture has kept us insulated from price rises but people buying from abroad probably don't know or care about all that.

[picosgemeos]

As soon as they get more planning permissions, I have no doubt they'll raise parts of Luton and build a new commuter belt.

I'm reminded of a story I read in the news where one of London's dockyards, in Newham, was sold to the Chinese for investment on a massive new construction. Is this how they think they'll plug the debt? If it is, it's a bad idea.

[rockingthemike]

Another cafe will soon join the many that recently popped up around Victoria Park. We'll never run out of cupcakes.

i think this line encapsulates the entire entry perfectly!

[picosgemeos]

It will be my pleasure to share a cupcake with you. ;-)