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The greater London area is all very expensive but there is not what I would consider a really nice and affordable area anywhere in the south. The BBC has the average price of a flat at £245k and a detached house at £340k. That is very expensive when you consider the average salary is around £24k: ten times less the average price of a flat. These averages are obviously pushed up by London but its still pricey.
£340,000 = $548,281 right now. You really don't want to look up what that would buy you here.
The guideline in the U.S. is that you should only purchase a house that is 2 1/2 times your yearly salary. Some people exceed that though.
Quote:
Originally Posted by NoReservations
I used to live in Southern California which is very expensive for the US but even there is more affordable than here in terms of real estate.
Boy. That is really saying something! Not the first time I've heard it either.
The greater London area is all very expensive but there is not what I would consider a really nice and affordable area anywhere in the south. The BBC has the average price of a flat at £245k and a detached house at £340k. That is very expensive when you consider the average salary is around £24k: ten times less the average price of a flat. These averages are obviously pushed up by London but its still pricey.
I used to live in Southern California which is very expensive for the US but even there is more affordable than here in terms of real estate. OZ has now become more expensive than here which makes one wonder how people will ever afford family homes in either country!
Actually, that 10x the average salary is about what real estate in much the San Francisco Bay Area is running right now. There has been a huge spike in appreciation this past year fueled by a new tech boom.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Shooting Stars
£340,000 = $548,281 right now. You really don't want to look up what that would buy you here.
Don't know where you live in the US but in my neck of the woods not a lot.
Actually, that 10x the average salary is about what real estate in much the San Francisco Bay Area is running right now. There has been a huge spike in appreciation this past year fueled by a new tech boom.
Don't know where you live in the US but in my neck of the woods not a lot.
The Bay Area is a totally different market than the rest of the US though. The national average is way lower than here. I would argue that you get more for your money in San Fran than anywhere near London.
To the topic-------There is a such thing as too much immigration. Too much will put a strain on the schools, hospitals, infrastructure, and so on. It's probably a good thing that in the past several decades new blood has been brought into the UK but there has to be a limit.
Even if you bring in only the people who have great skills and job prospects, you are still taking jobs away from the people who already live there.
Yes, I do think it could get crowded. You don't want crowding like they have in Japan. Japanese deal with it but it's not something any country would welcome.
As it is now, the English countryside is almost indescribably beautiful. Achingly beautiful. Empty, pure, green, and it is amazingly accessible to all, unlike the American rural areas. In England you can be in a town and just look out the window and you can often see the green hills dotted with sheep. Even if you live in a city, the countryside is there, nearby.
Your countryside is accessible and offers anyone a nearby place to go and relax and enjoy. There aren't many places like it in the world (that I know of anyway) and the worst thing would be to let the cities sprawl as they do in the US and gradually take over the countryside. Just let more people in and plunk them down in the countryside. No.
Here, the days of "going for a ride in the country" are long gone in most places as greedy developers have built homes and buildings. The "countryside" is far removed from where people live. Kids grow up never having experienced the country, never having seen a farm animal. If you want to see something nice you usually have to travel to a national park--and not everyone has the opportunity to do that and anyway, it can't be done very often.
Is the UK full? Don't think so. But it's full enough. (Those are the thoughts of this American who may not know a lot but who admires and appreciates your countryside as a treasure that should not be destroyed and could never be replaced.)
Here, the days of "going for a ride in the country" are long gone in most places as greedy developers have built homes and buildings. The "countryside" is far removed from where people live. Kids grow up never having experienced the country, never having seen a farm animal. If you want to see something nice you usually have to travel to a national park--and not everyone has the opportunity to do that and anyway, it can't be done very often.
Depends on what region you are talking about in the U.S. In the southeast, most people can get to countryside pretty quickly.
In the northeast, I understand most of Vermont is rural.
^^ Yeah, I'm curious as to where that idea comes from. If you look at a density map of the U.S. this place is still composed primarily of wide-open space. And that's why we're not as concerned about sprawl; even with largely unchecked sprawl we still have plenty of room to roam.
^^ Yeah, I'm curious as to where that idea comes from. If you look at a density map of the U.S. this place is still composed primarily of wide-open space. And that's why we're not as concerned about sprawl; even with largely unchecked sprawl we still have plenty of room to roam.
Depending on where you are in the US, there's a long area of sprawl between areas where most people live and truly rural areas while in Europe there are "greenbelts" or more abrupt transitions.
Depending on where you are in the US, there's a long area of sprawl between areas where most people live and truly rural areas while in Europe there are "greenbelts" or more abrupt transitions.
So you spend an extra 20 minutes driving past houses until you get to the open areas. The guy is making it sound like open space is completely inaccessible to most people, which is a 20-foot stack of nonsense.
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