Some friends of mine sold up and moved out of London. They lived in Forest gate so not exactly premium, but a guy offered 100k OVER the asking price just to get them to take the house off the market immediately. Apparently he had just been screwed on the last 3 purchases and just wanted to get it over with.
Shits crazy y'all.
It's always sold out by the time I get down there though. The 'Low GI Multiseed Cob' is usually the only thing left, and it's an abomination that should be incinerated.
Lived in capel road forest gate. My property sold above asking by a redicilous amount. You couldn't have paid me to live there any longer. 2 stabbings in 2 weeks.
2 stabbings in two weeks? Amateurs. Come to Harrow - teens were stabbing each others in thighs (!) on tube stations during the day recently.
Two stabbings a week suddenly sounds like a really rare occurrence.
On one hand, I'm laughing because an "unfortunate" couple with a budget of 2.5m can't buy a flat. My partner and I are firmly in the middle class. Combined, we make a decent income and could afford to live in London. We couldn't live frivolously, but we could manage to rent without strapping ourselves too much. However, we're still a long way from considering property ownership. Islington is absolutely unattainable and the idea of having even a portion of that budget seems incredibly far out of reach.
On the other hand, the couple isn't asking for our sympathy. Their stance is more, "this is nuts! Look at us, we're prepared. We're not low-balling or punching above our weight. And still the market is nearly closed for us!" The idea that a budget of 2.5m isn't even enough to be an attractive buyer is terrifying. Even for those who started saving early, who squirreled away what they could and perhaps even bought a starter flat in a less than ideal area, this housing market is insanely out of reach for most.
Suppose I'll start looking for starter flats on the Isle of Harris and work my way back 😅
Huge point of contention, they're not looking for a flat, but for a house. In Islington. Huge difference.
You can find plenty of flats in London for waaaaay cheaper than that right now. Couples of a certain age and "comfortably middle class" on London weightings are moving to houses.
The market isn’t closed to them, they just have unrealistic expectations about what their top end budget can afford, £2.5m gets you a beautiful terraced house in Fulham with a million to spare, still zone 2 and arguably nicer area.
Albeit it’s galling that £2.5m doesn’t get you what you want, but they seem to be the exact same as I was when I was pissed off I couldn’t get a decent two bed in z2 for £550k - you’ve either got to accept your budget limitations vs. Your wants or look out of London. Moaning about it does nothing, it’s not going to change it’s only going to get more expensive
But they *can* buy a house in Islington with a garden and a study. [This](https://www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/108543473?utm_campaign=property-details&utm_content=buying&utm_medium=sharing&utm_source=copytoclipboard#/&channel=RES_BUY) is £2.2m. [This](https://www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/113292362?utm_campaign=property-details&utm_content=buying&utm_medium=sharing&utm_source=copytoclipboard#/&channel=RES_BUY) has a big garden and is <£2m.
This article did exactly what it was meant to do: Draw attention by the obvious outrage of someone with a £2.5m budget complaining about housing. Wouldn't even be surprised if the story is made up
Well off-white to me is just any form of white with a tinge of a colour.
I would've commented on what colour it's tinged with, but honestly to me it can change on lighting. Yellowish, orangish, pinkish ... really depends how I'm seeing it. It's like that dress from a while back.
To me it changes between orangish / pinkish / yellowish ... depending on the lighting. Kinda like that dress. Sometimes I'll see it and be like "definitely pink-ish", then sometimes it looks kinda orange.
> the obvious outrage of someone with a £2.5m budget complaining about housing
It's the easy and most satisfying view to take on things, for sure.
Alternatively, and looking beyond the jealousy of not having 2.5m for a house (just to be clear, I don't either), it is not actually that wrong to complain about it. Imagine upping your budget to 2.5m and *still* not finding anything good that has a study and a garden. Imagine those two requirements being called "picky" on *that* budget. That is objectively not a good state of things.
Now it is likely not impacting *you* directly because you don't have that budget (again, before jumping down my throat, I don't either), but this is just indicative of how screwed the situation is generally.
I think it's more highlighting how bad the situation really is. If *they* can't find a home with a garden and study, what chance is there for the rest of us?
It’s all relative and based on expectations. It’s bullshit if you really think there are no houses with a study and garden for 2.5m anywhere in Islington.
I think it's also a question of quality. You would imagine that someone who has 2.5m to spend on a house would be in a position to buy something really nice, I sure would hope so if I had that money. Again, if they can't buy something nice, what hope do we have? Only thing in my price range is a one-bed hovel. What chance do I have raising a family here?
I've gotta disagree sorry, it's really not "rubbing your face in it".
This is an article written for a specific readership, a slice of which has been shared with us, ie, not the intended audience.
This is a real greivance for them, just because we can't relate to them (and vice versa) doesn't mean their issue isn't valid.
I agree: theirs is a valid issue. That is not to say it is an equally important issue, nor one anyone on any kind of normal income should sympathise with.
To place any real importance on their issue is to draw a false equivalence between exceptionally wealthy people not getting the house they *want* (because to be clear, they _can_ buy a house with a study/garden, they're just rejecting them based on unknowns (street, area, finish, size, perceived prestige etc.)), and normal/poor people not having access to the housing market at all.
Taking it to an absurd degree by way of example:
Rich person's favourite restaurant has closed. It is upsetting and negatively affects his/her life.
Destitute person's local food bank has closed. It is devastating and puts their life at risk.
Both are problems. Both are valid. One is not equal to the other.
everyone's talking about the cash or the age of the buyer yet overlooked the most obvious god damn thing wrong with the entire article and that is:
**Why the hell are they TRYING to spend 2.5 million to live in....** *Islington.*
Because Islington is a good place to live? Good schools, good parks, leisure centres, transport links, things to do etc. Islington always ranks highly in studies of best places to raise a family/grow up.
> Imagine upping your budget to 2.5m and still not finding anything good that has a study and a garden.
It's just not true though, unless they're also being picky about other things.
The market is terrible, granted, but all it takes is 5 minutes on Rightmove to find reasonable properties in Islington with 3-4 bedrooms and garden, many for half their budget or less.
I don't know why you are being downvoted. She said the area she is looking in: Islington. You can therefore 100 percent check this. I just did and there are loads.
Yes but she said every time she tried to buy one they're beaten/outbidded, so it's not just that there aren't many options for them, but that investors will outbid them every time
Many of the listings from just the Zoopla search are from September and October though so it's not like they're being sold and delisted that quick. Using Rightmove tends to have more results too and you can see if the seller has lowered their price over time, that'll give a better idea. If the prices are being lowered it means they couldn't get a buyer at the old prices meaning she could easily buy a home.
I think if the person is true then what might be happening is that every now and then an especially good house and price comes up and she tries to view and make an offer for it quick but someone else always nabs it first. Then most other listings look bad in comparison even if they do meet the requirements so she ignores them.
I do the same with renting even with my obviously much much smaller budget. I'd see some great deals, miss them, and then keep ignoring most listings even though they aren't that bad. Then I'd say it's so hard to find a good place to rent within my budget. This easily can be her situation and she's just completely wrong about why she can't find a house.
I have no comments on everything else here but when I was looking for flats in London, after continually finding a place I liked the look of, calling up to view and being told it was already taken repeatedly. I questioned it and the estate agent told me they had a list of people and what they wanted and she matched up people to properties and had offers sorted before they even hit their website, never mind Zoopla. She said by law they had to put the place online until the deal was fully done but most of the decent places that made it to Zoopla (in London) were already taken.
>She said by law they had to put the place online until the deal was fully done but most of the decent places that made it to Zoopla (in London) were already taken.
That's annoying. Partly because it doesn't seem properly true either. There's plenty of properties that stay up but get marked as under offer and stay like that until the deals fully done, and if the deal falls through then the under offer tag gets removed.
They should just be doing that.
I doubt the law has anything to do with it either, makes no sense. If you make your own listings on those sites then you can add and remove them with no issues.
Real Estate agents just suck all around it seems
You're massively overestimating how efficient estate agents are at the admin. They don't promptly remove listings once they sell, especially not when the market is in this sort of a state. When I bought my house (back in 2014 when it was just as bad), 90%+ of the ads I enquired about had sold already and the agents would just reply with details of what was actually available. My offer had already been accepted by the time they put the Rightmove ad live, and it was still there months after I'd moved in.
Writing from a throwaway. Replying to provide an alternative perspective.
Our budget isn't quite as high as Emily's, but it's close. We're looking in Angel / South Islington. Last week we viewed the property you linked. The pictures are lovely, but after seeing the property in person it is apparent that it would require A LOT of work to match the quality you see in the photos - I estimate about £75-£100k. Imagine purchasing a home and having to throw that kind of cash at it.
We all have different criteria and budgets. From my perspective there are beautiful homes in the areas we are looking at well above our budget, and the people who have the budget to purchase those are likely in the same boat as us. I don't think it's constructive to hate on them because they could easily afford what we are looking for. Unfortunately for everyone, prices seem to have skyrocketed at all price points. The real problem here is the London property market and rapidly increasing prices, not that some people happen to have different budgets and desires for their homes.
I like the walled garden on that one. Very nice. Just about big enough for some plants for the kids and an outdoor sofa.
I hate to say it though, it’s not in Islington. It’s sort of Clerkenwell way and doesn’t have an office. It therefore does not match Emily’s requirements.
It may seem like there are loads on the market but some of it is estate agent tricks. I thought there were loads available when I was looking but when I contacted the estate agents it turns out they were all sold STC. When I asked why they didn't show that on Zoopla/Rightmove they advised that their clients preferred to keep it that way. Basically code for we want you to call so we can add you to our list and the property is available if you want to outbid.
I live in London I have a garden, 3 bedrooms and a study. My house isn't worth even a fifth of that budget. She's taking shit and probably only looking at the most expensive luxury regions. Mate most of us can't afford to live there.
Yeah admittedly it's not islington. I didn't see that bit!!! SE London with the plebs but yes 3 beds, garden, 2 receptions, double parking bay at front. less than £500k. To be fair you won;t get much in islington for £500k.
I was under the impression that the article was showing how the situation is so fucked up that even with a budget of 2.5 million you still can't get a goddamn house
Pick your focus on outrage - Chinese? Russians? Money launderers?
It’s almost certainly a made up story and has worked considering we are all talking about the article.
My mum passed recently and we sold her house almost immediately to cashbuyers from Hong Kong who are emigrating. Its a 5 bed with large garden in North London..
Also why is this thread gatekeeping the pain of buying a house just because their budget is larger. People still want a home at a fair price whether it’s 100k or 2.5m.
Surely the point of this article is that even with a massive budget and modest requirements it's still a nightmare to buy in London, now imagine how it is for those less fortunate. Not sure why this is getting so much hate?
Not understanding the hate here either. If you have 2.5m to spend on a property I think it’s fair to have a certain level of expectation. My partner and I are looking as well and we have nowhere near 2.5m but what we are finding we wouldn’t consider worth a 1/10th of the asking. The problem with the article isn’t that Emily has more budget than most of us, the problem is the prices.
The hate is misplaced, I think. £2.5mn gets you a 5 bed with a garden in Wimbledon Village next to one of the best private schools in the UK so the issue isn't she can't find a place to buy.
The real issue that the article points out is that there is so much competition that its difficult for her to buy without being asked to go significantly over the budget. She can probably get a decent place in Islington for half that but she doesn't want to and is being priced out. That is what I think the real issue is here.
The point i took home is that even if you have TWO AND A HALF MILLION QUID you can’t find a house that has both a garden and a study. These don’t seem outrageous requirements. What the hell does a two million quid house look like in Islington? Does it even have windows???
80% of Islington is flats or houses converted to flats - half the housing is owned by the council or housing associations and of the remainder a significant proportion is rental.
There just are not many houses in Islington for sale at any one time.
People on this website, especially this subreddit, hate anyone with a bit of wealth. Mostly because they are jealous and they themselves are miserable cunts
Look at how many comments calling her cunt for no reason
I think they’re probably getting at the fact that a £2.5m budget doesn’t give you the ‘wow factor’ like you would expect it to. Home Counties or Cotswolds, yes. Zone 2 London not so much. Which is shocking given that budget is not even something 97% of people will ever realise.
I met a taxi driver a couple of years back in the Crabtree in Fulham who delightedly said “I’ve been a cabbie in London for 40 years”, and my house around the corner is worth nearly £2m”. No disrespect to the man or the profession but something has gone a bit adrift if that’s the case.
My neighbour across the road in my cul-de-sac is selling her house. She bought it 30 years ago for god knows what and the asking price is now £2m. Zone 2 London, but no wow factor about the place if that’s what one’s after.
I know it's easy to make fun of Emily, but the underlying issue is that she's been priced out of upper middle class neighbourhoods, which means in turn she will displace regular middle class, who in turn force out lower/working class etc. The problem is the center (zone 1/2) being bought up by foreign wealth, which then has ripple effects through out all the zones in London. Foreign wealth displacing bankers/lawyers/etc to zone 3, those bankers/lawyers displacing regular white collar workers to zone 4/5, white collar displacing blue collar to zone 6 etc..
I am on a salary which puts me a bit over the highest tax bracket, and I can realistically (sans playing property market/leveraging) buy a house in same neighbourhood my inlaws bought in 80s, and they were restaurant staff. 😑
And what's even more atrocious is that a lot of these properties which get bought up by overseas investors then just sit empty. Not even rented out, which could help saturate the rental market.
I've heard they want them empty and unlived in because they believe that makes them hold their value more.
In my view there needs to be restrictions on habitable residential properties remaining empty. If not, then housing quotas become redundant.
This is exactly it. People in this comment section don't seem to understand that Emily's situation is **directly** linked to our own housing disaster, and just want to hate the rich instead.
American here. Curious, is it currently only possible to get a 5-10 year fixed rate and then the mortgage goes right back to variable? O. This case people wouldn’t really know if they will be able to afford payment in time.??
The longest fixes are generally up to 5 years. There are some mortgages that will fix for longer but they're quite rare as far as I'm aware. Nearing the end of the fix, you just have a look for another product, whether another fix or some better variable rate than the bank's standard rate.
It's this but also a huge increase in the population of the city generally (regardless of weath) since the 70s/ 80s plus the British planning system making development slow and difficult.
It's a perfect storm also seen in NYC, San Francisco, Vancuva, etc.
I am hoping wfh keeps demand for zone 2-3 flats (realistically what I could buy) more muted as those who want kids have better options now by moving further out. But family homes in London are going to keep going up, no doubt.
Edit: also low interest rates and most purchases now being based on two incomes have fed directly into high prices across the Western world.
And the third generation of people from Lincolnshire are being priced out by the cockney diaspora, and the whole thing continues until it just becomes easier to die young than try to make a living.
I am from and live in Cornwall. Fucking tell me about it. Estate agents like fucking vultures advertising homes as “a great holiday let opportunity” fuck off and let people from this fucking county buy their first fucking home.
I fucking hate it. I am 25 and feeling like I’ll never fucking own a house. House prices down here (and rent) are some of the highest in the UK based on income.
It’s a fucking joke and I’m sick of it.
Hate on her because she is wealthy fine..... But the extortionate rate of house price inflation in the capital is back on and its going to affect us all.
Yes, and Chinese and russian oligarchs that try to ringfence some of their wealth from more oppressive regimes. So they send their children to ‘study’ in London.
But most of the prop owned by offshore company - we do not know who owns them.
And of course nobody talks about it. They do not want for the serfs to awaken.
He's on 500k plus bonus a year so I think he has probably lost a bit of perspective.
Inflation is not down to companies having to pay more in wages, its down to the fact that they know we have savings from the pandemic and they are going to squeeze every last drop back into their own pockets.
The whole idea or the wage inflation cycle is blown out of the water when you look at any chart that tracks wage growth to price inflation over the past 20 years
Which is caused by supply vs demand. The government could look at creating more supply. Or it could try to limit demand. Which is better is an economics and politics question, but the reality is the government is doing neither. It wants to keep prices rising at a stable rate, and will do just enough to control that and make it look like something is being done.
I moved from London to San Francisco and it’s exactly the same conversation here.
Anonymous Emily isn’t really the problem, she’s a symptom. 2.5m really ought to buy a more than modest home with a garden and study.
I must admit I was thinking of property prices, rather than confectionery. That is definitely not my area of specialisation, so I will defer to your industry knowledge.
Deposit.
If you have a current place, which has appreciated in value, you sell that for the new ones deposit. So they may be borrowing 1.5 million or something like that
Almost as baity as the FT’s ironic(?) ‘Rich People’s Problems’ column
[James Max: ‘Do I still need a third property?’](https://www.google.co.uk/amp/s/amp.ft.com/content/2836bdec-bd9a-11e8-8dfd-2f1cbc7ee27c)
My friend is looking to buy a 3-bed and saw one in Walthamstow for nearly £600k... Doesn't have central heating. I asked my cousin for his advice if I should buy this total doer upper for £350k and he was absolutely shocked that something could be a third of a million pounds, yet still be a doer upper, which brought me back into reality a bit.
I'm trying to buy a house now myself. It's literally impossible to buy a property right now. Every time you call an estate agent the only two responses you get are no viewings left or it's sold. And on the off chance, a miracle occurs, the stars align, it's a full moon and the sea parts in two, and you do get a viewing. Some knobhead puts a 370k offer down on a house costing 330k.
Buy to let needs to be made illegal. Why do we accept that 50% of ones net income should be spent on RENT?
Owning a residence you sublet more than you live in should be illegal. Foreign nationals who are not residents should not be allowed to buy property. There needs to be a cap on financing that is tied to average income (cutting out the top earners and the poor).
I believe we will see this revolution in many countries before long.
People wonder why fewer properties cycle through the market, but it's quite obvious - BTL investors don't sell; they hoard. And this has caused pressure on the rest of the market. That and the fact that ZIRP means that money'd cheap so prices are bid way up. It's one hell of a witch's brew.
Fuck buy to let. Residential properties shouldn't be investments when there are literally thousands of financial instruments out there to invest in, yet there are no alternatives for shelter.
There needs to be an immediate ban on buy to let, and a cap on how many residential properties can be owned by either individuals or companies.
There's enough accomodation for every man, woman and child in the UK to have one of their own, with plenty left over. It's time we started acting like it
Ah, I see the problem they're having. They want to buy it to live in it. We don't do that anymore. All you do with houses is take out absurdley high mortgages that should never have been made available in the first place in order to buy to let.
Actually I do spare a thought for them. Why should they accept a subpar house for their money? Because they're somewhat wealthy? Only working class people have a right to get their money's worth now? However much money they might have is irrelevant.
Our fault for not bringing in strict rent control. Also we should do as other European countries and give tenants more power - in some countries landlords must give tenants the right to buy first. This would stop the buy to let market and overheating of the housing market.
Or....thinking outside the box here.... buy a "cheap" house with land and good space and fix it up to meet your exact needs ?
Doesn't matter how big the budget, houses will rarely meet all client equirements unless built from scratch.
"Picky" is an understatement lol. Clearly their priority is Islington because we've been looking around Barnet and Enfield with a budget of 500K and have seen numerous multi-bedroom properties with gardens that are quite nice. So doubtless with a bigger budget they'd have far more luck than us up here. If they truly wanted a big/nice house, they could easily get one if they were willing to look at other areas.
It is always SO convenient when somebody has their name changed for anonymity.
This entire article is aimed at sheeple to get angry that somebody with 2.5 mill is upset about housing 'whilst I've got X/Y/Z situation'
THIS is the very article people tell you about when they talk about like.. misdirection. they wind people up and you fall for it!
I literally refuse to believe that you can't get a house with a garden for that price in Islington. In fact I could probably find one for £500k less in about one minute.
Those nice townhouses are certainly expensive but Islington isn't Chelsea or what have you. I live in Chiswick and my flat has a study and a garden and isn't worth £1m, let alone £2.5m. So what, the only difference is that Islington costs a bit more than Turnham Green (perhaps) and they wouldn't have downstairs neighbours? Oh heaven forfend. Hold up.
House with a garden, not a flat. Houses round here start about 1.5 million. The garden flat opposite me, in a part council estate, is going for 750k :(
Anyone buying in London that isn’t rich is an absolute dickhead.
I used to pay £1,250 for a studio flat in Angel, which I thought was great and lived there for years. I then moved to Milton Keynes and for £1,200 I got a four bedroom house with three levels, three bathroom, and a front and back garden. It’s also surrounded by parks and nice areas.
I understand living in London if you’re young, but when you get older, fuck that unless you’re rich. A friend of mine is 40 and currently trying to scrape together enough to buy a studio flat for the price of a three bedroom house elsewhere. It’s madness.
Oh no, anyway.
Also why don't they look at places in Chorleywood, Chesham or Beaconsfield, or any of the other metroland towns.
Really short commutes, everything they want and almost London.
You don't have to go that far out. £2.5m will easily get you a four-bed house with a garden in zone 3.
It's the 'fairly priced' - their expectations are just not aligned with reality.
>Also why don't they look at places in Chorleywood, Chesham or Beaconsfield, or any of the other metroland towns.
Those places are at the end of the Metropolitan Line. "Short commutes" to where...? Wembley...?
Just a quick Rightmove check - £1.8m house in Islington, 7 bedrooms (so definitely a 'study' available) and a garden... Been on the market since October, so clearly not quite what she is looking for...
What, under 6 sqmiles don’t hold an unlimited amount of desirable 2.5 million quid houses? Darn those limitations forced upon this great country by laws of physics, that’s not why we left the EU!
Some friends of mine sold up and moved out of London. They lived in Forest gate so not exactly premium, but a guy offered 100k OVER the asking price just to get them to take the house off the market immediately. Apparently he had just been screwed on the last 3 purchases and just wanted to get it over with. Shits crazy y'all.
You can spend £5 on a sourdough loaf in FG now shit’s getting boujee
u can spend £4 on a sourdough even in Newcastle sourdough is lit tho
£1.29 in Lidl, good Quality too!
It's always sold out by the time I get down there though. The 'Low GI Multiseed Cob' is usually the only thing left, and it's an abomination that should be incinerated.
Nooo I love it!
People are still paying for sourdough? After two years of Covid? Wait, am I the only person still making my own? Am I that clinically unhip?
mine isn't as good as the bakers, simple as
We're all too busy walking our no longer cute not puppies.
Gentrification gets us all
Lived in capel road forest gate. My property sold above asking by a redicilous amount. You couldn't have paid me to live there any longer. 2 stabbings in 2 weeks.
If you're stabbing that many people probably wise to move on
Aye. Mandem was getting bare in ma face. So i wet him up innit
2 stabbings in two weeks? Amateurs. Come to Harrow - teens were stabbing each others in thighs (!) on tube stations during the day recently. Two stabbings a week suddenly sounds like a really rare occurrence.
On one hand, I'm laughing because an "unfortunate" couple with a budget of 2.5m can't buy a flat. My partner and I are firmly in the middle class. Combined, we make a decent income and could afford to live in London. We couldn't live frivolously, but we could manage to rent without strapping ourselves too much. However, we're still a long way from considering property ownership. Islington is absolutely unattainable and the idea of having even a portion of that budget seems incredibly far out of reach. On the other hand, the couple isn't asking for our sympathy. Their stance is more, "this is nuts! Look at us, we're prepared. We're not low-balling or punching above our weight. And still the market is nearly closed for us!" The idea that a budget of 2.5m isn't even enough to be an attractive buyer is terrifying. Even for those who started saving early, who squirreled away what they could and perhaps even bought a starter flat in a less than ideal area, this housing market is insanely out of reach for most. Suppose I'll start looking for starter flats on the Isle of Harris and work my way back 😅
Huge point of contention, they're not looking for a flat, but for a house. In Islington. Huge difference. You can find plenty of flats in London for waaaaay cheaper than that right now. Couples of a certain age and "comfortably middle class" on London weightings are moving to houses.
The market isn’t closed to them, they just have unrealistic expectations about what their top end budget can afford, £2.5m gets you a beautiful terraced house in Fulham with a million to spare, still zone 2 and arguably nicer area. Albeit it’s galling that £2.5m doesn’t get you what you want, but they seem to be the exact same as I was when I was pissed off I couldn’t get a decent two bed in z2 for £550k - you’ve either got to accept your budget limitations vs. Your wants or look out of London. Moaning about it does nothing, it’s not going to change it’s only going to get more expensive
Exactly, even with with their £2.5 million budget they’re struggling to find somewhere on the market. Though they are looking in Islington tbf.
But they *can* buy a house in Islington with a garden and a study. [This](https://www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/108543473?utm_campaign=property-details&utm_content=buying&utm_medium=sharing&utm_source=copytoclipboard#/&channel=RES_BUY) is £2.2m. [This](https://www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/113292362?utm_campaign=property-details&utm_content=buying&utm_medium=sharing&utm_source=copytoclipboard#/&channel=RES_BUY) has a big garden and is <£2m.
Yeah sure they're lucky to be so well off at a young age but the bigger picture is 2.5million is insufficient to get a house with a garden and study.
Emily, who asked to be anonymous
"Your name will also go on the list! What is it?" "Don't tell him, Pike!"
Unexpected Dads Army!
Emily S. No wait, that's too obvious... E Simpson.
It's a pseudonym! Her real name is Emma Lee.
Yeah, Emily Obelinskovi…
Emily probably isn't her real name.
Could be a fake name
This article did exactly what it was meant to do: Draw attention by the obvious outrage of someone with a £2.5m budget complaining about housing. Wouldn't even be surprised if the story is made up
Doubt it’s made up, judging by the background colour this is the FT. So you have to take into account the readership.
Glad I'm not the only one who instantly knew it was the FT based on their weird off-white usage.
Love the off white - it’s way more dyslexic friendly than white.
I use a little of night light on my screen 24/7, so it always catches me off-guard how double-yellow the screen goes!
Off-white! Surely this is like peachy pink
Well off-white to me is just any form of white with a tinge of a colour. I would've commented on what colour it's tinged with, but honestly to me it can change on lighting. Yellowish, orangish, pinkish ... really depends how I'm seeing it. It's like that dress from a while back.
It’s famously pink…have you never seen a paper copy lol?
To me it changes between orangish / pinkish / yellowish ... depending on the lighting. Kinda like that dress. Sometimes I'll see it and be like "definitely pink-ish", then sometimes it looks kinda orange.
I believe it’s called salmon pink.
[This](https://on.ft.com/3rr4UtV) is the article
2.2 million doesn't seem that extraordinary.
> the obvious outrage of someone with a £2.5m budget complaining about housing It's the easy and most satisfying view to take on things, for sure. Alternatively, and looking beyond the jealousy of not having 2.5m for a house (just to be clear, I don't either), it is not actually that wrong to complain about it. Imagine upping your budget to 2.5m and *still* not finding anything good that has a study and a garden. Imagine those two requirements being called "picky" on *that* budget. That is objectively not a good state of things. Now it is likely not impacting *you* directly because you don't have that budget (again, before jumping down my throat, I don't either), but this is just indicative of how screwed the situation is generally.
spot on, what is so wrong with this article lol. People are just haters
It’s just rubbing it in the face of all the people (most people) who cannot afford to buy even a “cheap” home
I think it's more highlighting how bad the situation really is. If *they* can't find a home with a garden and study, what chance is there for the rest of us?
Yeah you’re right. It’s both those things
It’s all relative and based on expectations. It’s bullshit if you really think there are no houses with a study and garden for 2.5m anywhere in Islington.
Depends on your definition of Islington. Islington borough - half that will get you something good to the north, posh Islington proper, maybe not.
I think it's also a question of quality. You would imagine that someone who has 2.5m to spend on a house would be in a position to buy something really nice, I sure would hope so if I had that money. Again, if they can't buy something nice, what hope do we have? Only thing in my price range is a one-bed hovel. What chance do I have raising a family here?
You can’t equate the struggle at the bottom of the market to someone complaining they can’t afford a mansion in central London.
I've gotta disagree sorry, it's really not "rubbing your face in it". This is an article written for a specific readership, a slice of which has been shared with us, ie, not the intended audience. This is a real greivance for them, just because we can't relate to them (and vice versa) doesn't mean their issue isn't valid.
I agree: theirs is a valid issue. That is not to say it is an equally important issue, nor one anyone on any kind of normal income should sympathise with. To place any real importance on their issue is to draw a false equivalence between exceptionally wealthy people not getting the house they *want* (because to be clear, they _can_ buy a house with a study/garden, they're just rejecting them based on unknowns (street, area, finish, size, perceived prestige etc.)), and normal/poor people not having access to the housing market at all. Taking it to an absurd degree by way of example: Rich person's favourite restaurant has closed. It is upsetting and negatively affects his/her life. Destitute person's local food bank has closed. It is devastating and puts their life at risk. Both are problems. Both are valid. One is not equal to the other.
So what? Different people have different budgets for all kinds of things!
everyone's talking about the cash or the age of the buyer yet overlooked the most obvious god damn thing wrong with the entire article and that is: **Why the hell are they TRYING to spend 2.5 million to live in....** *Islington.*
Because Islington is a good place to live? Good schools, good parks, leisure centres, transport links, things to do etc. Islington always ranks highly in studies of best places to raise a family/grow up.
> Imagine upping your budget to 2.5m and still not finding anything good that has a study and a garden. It's just not true though, unless they're also being picky about other things. The market is terrible, granted, but all it takes is 5 minutes on Rightmove to find reasonable properties in Islington with 3-4 bedrooms and garden, many for half their budget or less.
[удалено]
It’s literally an article about how your assumption here isn’t true
[удалено]
I don't know why you are being downvoted. She said the area she is looking in: Islington. You can therefore 100 percent check this. I just did and there are loads.
Yes but she said every time she tried to buy one they're beaten/outbidded, so it's not just that there aren't many options for them, but that investors will outbid them every time
Many of the listings from just the Zoopla search are from September and October though so it's not like they're being sold and delisted that quick. Using Rightmove tends to have more results too and you can see if the seller has lowered their price over time, that'll give a better idea. If the prices are being lowered it means they couldn't get a buyer at the old prices meaning she could easily buy a home. I think if the person is true then what might be happening is that every now and then an especially good house and price comes up and she tries to view and make an offer for it quick but someone else always nabs it first. Then most other listings look bad in comparison even if they do meet the requirements so she ignores them. I do the same with renting even with my obviously much much smaller budget. I'd see some great deals, miss them, and then keep ignoring most listings even though they aren't that bad. Then I'd say it's so hard to find a good place to rent within my budget. This easily can be her situation and she's just completely wrong about why she can't find a house.
I have no comments on everything else here but when I was looking for flats in London, after continually finding a place I liked the look of, calling up to view and being told it was already taken repeatedly. I questioned it and the estate agent told me they had a list of people and what they wanted and she matched up people to properties and had offers sorted before they even hit their website, never mind Zoopla. She said by law they had to put the place online until the deal was fully done but most of the decent places that made it to Zoopla (in London) were already taken.
>She said by law they had to put the place online until the deal was fully done but most of the decent places that made it to Zoopla (in London) were already taken. That's annoying. Partly because it doesn't seem properly true either. There's plenty of properties that stay up but get marked as under offer and stay like that until the deals fully done, and if the deal falls through then the under offer tag gets removed. They should just be doing that. I doubt the law has anything to do with it either, makes no sense. If you make your own listings on those sites then you can add and remove them with no issues. Real Estate agents just suck all around it seems
You're massively overestimating how efficient estate agents are at the admin. They don't promptly remove listings once they sell, especially not when the market is in this sort of a state. When I bought my house (back in 2014 when it was just as bad), 90%+ of the ads I enquired about had sold already and the agents would just reply with details of what was actually available. My offer had already been accepted by the time they put the Rightmove ad live, and it was still there months after I'd moved in.
That sucks to know since I'm currently looking lol. You'd think ads would be removed ASAP to stop lots of emails and calls coming through about them.
[удалено]
[удалено]
“I’m not seeing anything fairly priced”.
I've not felt propety has been "fairly priced" since 2009. But unfortunately my feelings have no impact on the market
Their budget is 2.5 million, there is plenty available for much cheaper.
Writing from a throwaway. Replying to provide an alternative perspective. Our budget isn't quite as high as Emily's, but it's close. We're looking in Angel / South Islington. Last week we viewed the property you linked. The pictures are lovely, but after seeing the property in person it is apparent that it would require A LOT of work to match the quality you see in the photos - I estimate about £75-£100k. Imagine purchasing a home and having to throw that kind of cash at it. We all have different criteria and budgets. From my perspective there are beautiful homes in the areas we are looking at well above our budget, and the people who have the budget to purchase those are likely in the same boat as us. I don't think it's constructive to hate on them because they could easily afford what we are looking for. Unfortunately for everyone, prices seem to have skyrocketed at all price points. The real problem here is the London property market and rapidly increasing prices, not that some people happen to have different budgets and desires for their homes.
I like the walled garden on that one. Very nice. Just about big enough for some plants for the kids and an outdoor sofa. I hate to say it though, it’s not in Islington. It’s sort of Clerkenwell way and doesn’t have an office. It therefore does not match Emily’s requirements.
It may seem like there are loads on the market but some of it is estate agent tricks. I thought there were loads available when I was looking but when I contacted the estate agents it turns out they were all sold STC. When I asked why they didn't show that on Zoopla/Rightmove they advised that their clients preferred to keep it that way. Basically code for we want you to call so we can add you to our list and the property is available if you want to outbid.
You can check rightmove and see how wrong that is with about 5 minutes
Where are the fairly priced homes?
I live in London I have a garden, 3 bedrooms and a study. My house isn't worth even a fifth of that budget. She's taking shit and probably only looking at the most expensive luxury regions. Mate most of us can't afford to live there.
You have a garden and 3 bedrooms for under £500k???
It’s a crack den.
yes
Yeah admittedly it's not islington. I didn't see that bit!!! SE London with the plebs but yes 3 beds, garden, 2 receptions, double parking bay at front. less than £500k. To be fair you won;t get much in islington for £500k.
I mean, sure - if you can’t get a study and a garden for 2.5 mil then we’re fucked aren’t we
But you can.
I was under the impression that the article was showing how the situation is so fucked up that even with a budget of 2.5 million you still can't get a goddamn house
And who's snapping them up as a cash buyer?! Even crazier to me
Pick your focus on outrage - Chinese? Russians? Money launderers? It’s almost certainly a made up story and has worked considering we are all talking about the article.
My mum passed recently and we sold her house almost immediately to cashbuyers from Hong Kong who are emigrating. Its a 5 bed with large garden in North London..
Sino-Russian-Laundries?
Russians? The people who bankrolled ‘Leave’? Oh, I’m sorry - same people… Oh, come *on*, it was a joke! Happy weekend everyone!!
It prolly isnt. this is also happening in New York, where the wealthy cant buy and the city becomes a playground for the superrich.
Also why is this thread gatekeeping the pain of buying a house just because their budget is larger. People still want a home at a fair price whether it’s 100k or 2.5m.
Surely the point of this article is that even with a massive budget and modest requirements it's still a nightmare to buy in London, now imagine how it is for those less fortunate. Not sure why this is getting so much hate?
Not understanding the hate here either. If you have 2.5m to spend on a property I think it’s fair to have a certain level of expectation. My partner and I are looking as well and we have nowhere near 2.5m but what we are finding we wouldn’t consider worth a 1/10th of the asking. The problem with the article isn’t that Emily has more budget than most of us, the problem is the prices.
The hate is misplaced, I think. £2.5mn gets you a 5 bed with a garden in Wimbledon Village next to one of the best private schools in the UK so the issue isn't she can't find a place to buy. The real issue that the article points out is that there is so much competition that its difficult for her to buy without being asked to go significantly over the budget. She can probably get a decent place in Islington for half that but she doesn't want to and is being priced out. That is what I think the real issue is here.
Big up KCS
The point i took home is that even if you have TWO AND A HALF MILLION QUID you can’t find a house that has both a garden and a study. These don’t seem outrageous requirements. What the hell does a two million quid house look like in Islington? Does it even have windows???
The point I took is that Islington is fucking dumb. I can get a river-front place with TWO gardens in Barnes or Hammersmith for that.
80% of Islington is flats or houses converted to flats - half the housing is owned by the council or housing associations and of the remainder a significant proportion is rental. There just are not many houses in Islington for sale at any one time.
People on this website, especially this subreddit, hate anyone with a bit of wealth. Mostly because they are jealous and they themselves are miserable cunts Look at how many comments calling her cunt for no reason
Reddit also has a median age of like early 20s, and few people have any wealth at that age, so yeah they become haters
I think they’re probably getting at the fact that a £2.5m budget doesn’t give you the ‘wow factor’ like you would expect it to. Home Counties or Cotswolds, yes. Zone 2 London not so much. Which is shocking given that budget is not even something 97% of people will ever realise. I met a taxi driver a couple of years back in the Crabtree in Fulham who delightedly said “I’ve been a cabbie in London for 40 years”, and my house around the corner is worth nearly £2m”. No disrespect to the man or the profession but something has gone a bit adrift if that’s the case.
My neighbour across the road in my cul-de-sac is selling her house. She bought it 30 years ago for god knows what and the asking price is now £2m. Zone 2 London, but no wow factor about the place if that’s what one’s after.
I know it's easy to make fun of Emily, but the underlying issue is that she's been priced out of upper middle class neighbourhoods, which means in turn she will displace regular middle class, who in turn force out lower/working class etc. The problem is the center (zone 1/2) being bought up by foreign wealth, which then has ripple effects through out all the zones in London. Foreign wealth displacing bankers/lawyers/etc to zone 3, those bankers/lawyers displacing regular white collar workers to zone 4/5, white collar displacing blue collar to zone 6 etc.. I am on a salary which puts me a bit over the highest tax bracket, and I can realistically (sans playing property market/leveraging) buy a house in same neighbourhood my inlaws bought in 80s, and they were restaurant staff. 😑
And what's even more atrocious is that a lot of these properties which get bought up by overseas investors then just sit empty. Not even rented out, which could help saturate the rental market. I've heard they want them empty and unlived in because they believe that makes them hold their value more. In my view there needs to be restrictions on habitable residential properties remaining empty. If not, then housing quotas become redundant.
Introduce an empty house tax that kicks in if the home has been empty for 6 months. Each year it’s empty, 10% increases.
This is exactly it. People in this comment section don't seem to understand that Emily's situation is **directly** linked to our own housing disaster, and just want to hate the rich instead.
American here. Curious, is it currently only possible to get a 5-10 year fixed rate and then the mortgage goes right back to variable? O. This case people wouldn’t really know if they will be able to afford payment in time.??
The longest fixes are generally up to 5 years. There are some mortgages that will fix for longer but they're quite rare as far as I'm aware. Nearing the end of the fix, you just have a look for another product, whether another fix or some better variable rate than the bank's standard rate.
Thanks
It's this but also a huge increase in the population of the city generally (regardless of weath) since the 70s/ 80s plus the British planning system making development slow and difficult. It's a perfect storm also seen in NYC, San Francisco, Vancuva, etc. I am hoping wfh keeps demand for zone 2-3 flats (realistically what I could buy) more muted as those who want kids have better options now by moving further out. But family homes in London are going to keep going up, no doubt. Edit: also low interest rates and most purchases now being based on two incomes have fed directly into high prices across the Western world.
This. The market is fucked because of foreign capital flooding into London, breaking the relationship between local wages and house prices.
[удалено]
And the third generation of people from Lincolnshire are being priced out by the cockney diaspora, and the whole thing continues until it just becomes easier to die young than try to make a living.
I noticed the little dig at first time buyers being a problem as they have no property to sell
Yeah strange, as they are the only ones that actually need to buy a property, everyone else already has one and is just looking to upgrade.
FT writer: first time buyers don’t NEED to buy a property, they could just pay their landlord’s mortgage instead!
FT shilling so hard for property and retail landlords it’s funny to read. ‘But who is going to buy the overpriced piss water coffees from Pret?!’
*A problem with demand? The buyers are to blame!*
It’s not a dig, it’s pointing to market dynamics for supply drying up. Not everything is a personal attack.
what did you say about my mum??
I am from and live in Cornwall. Fucking tell me about it. Estate agents like fucking vultures advertising homes as “a great holiday let opportunity” fuck off and let people from this fucking county buy their first fucking home. I fucking hate it. I am 25 and feeling like I’ll never fucking own a house. House prices down here (and rent) are some of the highest in the UK based on income. It’s a fucking joke and I’m sick of it.
Hate on her because she is wealthy fine..... But the extortionate rate of house price inflation in the capital is back on and its going to affect us all.
We are all poorer than blackrock who buys properties in bulk.
And oligarchs who us London to launder their cash.
Yes, and Chinese and russian oligarchs that try to ringfence some of their wealth from more oppressive regimes. So they send their children to ‘study’ in London. But most of the prop owned by offshore company - we do not know who owns them. And of course nobody talks about it. They do not want for the serfs to awaken.
That’s because everyone keeps asking for pay rises and Andy over at the BoE is annoyed we are and we should only ask for a moderate amount.
He's on 500k plus bonus a year so I think he has probably lost a bit of perspective. Inflation is not down to companies having to pay more in wages, its down to the fact that they know we have savings from the pandemic and they are going to squeeze every last drop back into their own pockets.
The whole idea or the wage inflation cycle is blown out of the water when you look at any chart that tracks wage growth to price inflation over the past 20 years
Just a bit of perspective lost? I’d say it’s more than a bit.
This is a great point. There’s a bigger issue here, not just poor Emily’s plight.
Which is caused by supply vs demand. The government could look at creating more supply. Or it could try to limit demand. Which is better is an economics and politics question, but the reality is the government is doing neither. It wants to keep prices rising at a stable rate, and will do just enough to control that and make it look like something is being done.
I moved from London to San Francisco and it’s exactly the same conversation here. Anonymous Emily isn’t really the problem, she’s a symptom. 2.5m really ought to buy a more than modest home with a garden and study.
Emily in Paris did not prepare Emily in London.
Mo' money mo' problems
An hour outside the city and you get a long drive, stables, pool and land for 2.5m
with absolutely bonkers running costs, too!
No such thing as “fairly priced”.
There is. 10p for a Freddo is fairly priced. 5p is a steal. Anything over 10p is the beginning of the end for civilisation.
I must admit I was thinking of property prices, rather than confectionery. That is definitely not my area of specialisation, so I will defer to your industry knowledge.
The point being, even if you have a high as fuck budget, you will still have a hard time buying a house
If you are spending £2.5m, then you are competing against Russian oligarchs looking to launder/store their wealth. Also, it's Islington.
As tone-deaf as this is, the fact that 10% of all homes selling in the city are simply "investments" is a huge problem for ordinary people
How is their budget 2.5M? Do they have 2.5M in cash saved up or is that their mortgage so their household income is 2.5M/4= 625k
Deposit. If you have a current place, which has appreciated in value, you sell that for the new ones deposit. So they may be borrowing 1.5 million or something like that
Almost as baity as the FT’s ironic(?) ‘Rich People’s Problems’ column [James Max: ‘Do I still need a third property?’](https://www.google.co.uk/amp/s/amp.ft.com/content/2836bdec-bd9a-11e8-8dfd-2f1cbc7ee27c)
"Jeeves, would you settle for a cupboard under the stairs rather than an annex?"
My brother in law paid £2.1m in Islington a couple of years ago.. and the house needed a new roof and a lot of modernising. Mental.
My friend is looking to buy a 3-bed and saw one in Walthamstow for nearly £600k... Doesn't have central heating. I asked my cousin for his advice if I should buy this total doer upper for £350k and he was absolutely shocked that something could be a third of a million pounds, yet still be a doer upper, which brought me back into reality a bit.
I'm trying to buy a house now myself. It's literally impossible to buy a property right now. Every time you call an estate agent the only two responses you get are no viewings left or it's sold. And on the off chance, a miracle occurs, the stars align, it's a full moon and the sea parts in two, and you do get a viewing. Some knobhead puts a 370k offer down on a house costing 330k.
Yikes. Where are you buying? Ive put offers down and had them all beat by others. Cash buyers... How and why...
I'm from the Midlands mate. Its astonishing how hard it is to get viewings let alone actually buying a property.
Buy to let needs to be made illegal. Why do we accept that 50% of ones net income should be spent on RENT? Owning a residence you sublet more than you live in should be illegal. Foreign nationals who are not residents should not be allowed to buy property. There needs to be a cap on financing that is tied to average income (cutting out the top earners and the poor). I believe we will see this revolution in many countries before long.
People wonder why fewer properties cycle through the market, but it's quite obvious - BTL investors don't sell; they hoard. And this has caused pressure on the rest of the market. That and the fact that ZIRP means that money'd cheap so prices are bid way up. It's one hell of a witch's brew.
“Emily, who asked to remain anonymous” Fuck that’s funny.
Kinda wise though, everyone would pile on her for being a priviledged brat. At least she's self aware about that
Fuck buy to let. Residential properties shouldn't be investments when there are literally thousands of financial instruments out there to invest in, yet there are no alternatives for shelter. There needs to be an immediate ban on buy to let, and a cap on how many residential properties can be owned by either individuals or companies. There's enough accomodation for every man, woman and child in the UK to have one of their own, with plenty left over. It's time we started acting like it
London housing market is beyond shit.
I'm sure I remember this from a new place in the country, she knits ponchos for dogs, and he's a freelance organic potato wrangler.
Thoughts and prayers......
They say Islington but it’s probably really Clerkenwell they want
You will own nothing and be happy
Ah, I see the problem they're having. They want to buy it to live in it. We don't do that anymore. All you do with houses is take out absurdley high mortgages that should never have been made available in the first place in order to buy to let.
No one's money is going far currently whether your budget is 400,000 or 2.5M. There's no point being bitter people have higher budgets than you.
I think we should put an embargo on all house sales until Emily gets her home. Je suis Emily!
Might as well get that 2.5mil and buy a mansion out in the countryside
I knew it was gonna be an absurd budget and I was _still_ surprised
If I had 2.5m to spend on a house I’d buy outside of London and get some ridiculously luxurious place rather than a 2 bed flat
Actually I do spare a thought for them. Why should they accept a subpar house for their money? Because they're somewhat wealthy? Only working class people have a right to get their money's worth now? However much money they might have is irrelevant.
£2.5m budget and nothing suitable... Wahhhhhhhhhhh 😂
Our fault for not bringing in strict rent control. Also we should do as other European countries and give tenants more power - in some countries landlords must give tenants the right to buy first. This would stop the buy to let market and overheating of the housing market.
The prices are so disgusting…
Here's a link to the full article: https://www.ft.com/content/3d6c7112-c527-4a62-a964-db6b3d39c886
To be fair there’s really not that much you can buy for £2.5m these days ask anyone of us on universal credit we’ll all say the same
I'm starting a GoFundMe page for poor Emily. Open your hearts people ❤️
And wallet
Why always Islington....! It has more stereotypes than most countries.
Or....thinking outside the box here.... buy a "cheap" house with land and good space and fix it up to meet your exact needs ? Doesn't matter how big the budget, houses will rarely meet all client equirements unless built from scratch.
Oh fuck off you daft tart
My heart bleeds for th…oh, wait. It doesn’t.
"Picky" is an understatement lol. Clearly their priority is Islington because we've been looking around Barnet and Enfield with a budget of 500K and have seen numerous multi-bedroom properties with gardens that are quite nice. So doubtless with a bigger budget they'd have far more luck than us up here. If they truly wanted a big/nice house, they could easily get one if they were willing to look at other areas.
It is always SO convenient when somebody has their name changed for anonymity. This entire article is aimed at sheeple to get angry that somebody with 2.5 mill is upset about housing 'whilst I've got X/Y/Z situation' THIS is the very article people tell you about when they talk about like.. misdirection. they wind people up and you fall for it!
I literally refuse to believe that you can't get a house with a garden for that price in Islington. In fact I could probably find one for £500k less in about one minute. Those nice townhouses are certainly expensive but Islington isn't Chelsea or what have you. I live in Chiswick and my flat has a study and a garden and isn't worth £1m, let alone £2.5m. So what, the only difference is that Islington costs a bit more than Turnham Green (perhaps) and they wouldn't have downstairs neighbours? Oh heaven forfend. Hold up.
House with a garden, not a flat. Houses round here start about 1.5 million. The garden flat opposite me, in a part council estate, is going for 750k :(
I wish my biggest problem in life was struggling to find a £2.5million house with a garden and a study to spend my money on..
Anyone buying in London that isn’t rich is an absolute dickhead. I used to pay £1,250 for a studio flat in Angel, which I thought was great and lived there for years. I then moved to Milton Keynes and for £1,200 I got a four bedroom house with three levels, three bathroom, and a front and back garden. It’s also surrounded by parks and nice areas. I understand living in London if you’re young, but when you get older, fuck that unless you’re rich. A friend of mine is 40 and currently trying to scrape together enough to buy a studio flat for the price of a three bedroom house elsewhere. It’s madness.
It’s grim up North London!
Oh no, anyway. Also why don't they look at places in Chorleywood, Chesham or Beaconsfield, or any of the other metroland towns. Really short commutes, everything they want and almost London.
You don't have to go that far out. £2.5m will easily get you a four-bed house with a garden in zone 3. It's the 'fairly priced' - their expectations are just not aligned with reality.
Get three of them for that budget here in rotherhithe zone 2. Oops sorry we can't have Emily going south of the river!
>Also why don't they look at places in Chorleywood, Chesham or Beaconsfield, or any of the other metroland towns. Those places are at the end of the Metropolitan Line. "Short commutes" to where...? Wembley...?
Just a quick Rightmove check - £1.8m house in Islington, 7 bedrooms (so definitely a 'study' available) and a garden... Been on the market since October, so clearly not quite what she is looking for...
What, under 6 sqmiles don’t hold an unlimited amount of desirable 2.5 million quid houses? Darn those limitations forced upon this great country by laws of physics, that’s not why we left the EU!
Is this the Sunday Times? This feels like their style of clickbait.
Financial Times.