Property values in London have been rising steadily for a while now. The average price of a home in London is $764,630. You'd have to save a lot of money for a really long time in order to buy a home in London. But it could also be a good time sell property which you didn't was that valuable if you are a Londoner.
How I wish to go to London. Maybe I would win the lotto, that's the first thing I would plan on, to make a trip to London. But buying a property there? Hmm, that gets me thinking because from what my husband had related to me, the houses there are mostly vintage and expensive. But maybe if I would really be rich and has plans of making London a regular vacation place then I would be buying a small house, just a small one that I can afford.
I wouldn't do it. You can get a great deal more for your pound in large cities such as Birmingham or Manchester. Don't forget that it's not just the price of the house to take into consideration. Council tax rates and the general cost of maintenance are far higher in London than they are in these cities too.
I live in Manchester in the UK and for the price of a one bedroom apartment in London, you can buy a 6 bedroom house, set in its own grounds with an indoor pool and gym, around here so which would you prefer? I'd go for the latter to be honest, as I think a lot more people are doing these days. People tend to see London as the only place to live in England that's worth anything but that couldn't be further from the truth, and if you do love London so much, a train from Manchester will get you to London in around 2 hours, so you won't even be that far away.
Over here, the mere mention of London is big deal already. So it doesn't matter what kind of house you buy but as long as it is in London then you are one famous guy here. I've never heard of Manchester nor Birmingham although I had seen in the map Brighton which has the race horses (my father was a race horse trainer that's why). And there's Bath too. But for all the places in the world, my dream is to visit London someday.
For those of you living in those areas, how bad is the radical islam immigrant problem that I have heard so much about in recent times getting? If it's any sort of growing problem at all, I could see that affecting property values in Europe eventually.
Take out the word radical and that question becomes simple. It's a big problem in Europe. The security side is not too bad for the moment... that is to say that there has been very few adverse effects for now. (I'm certain they will arise in the future) But right now it's more about the financial burden, the European economy simply cannot handle taking in hundreds of thousands of people who live on social security payments, get free housing... not to mention the strain they are putting on the public healthcare sector since as you can imagine they aren't in the best of health so all the dental care, medical checks, vaccinations.. it all adds up. It certainly has the potential to have an effect on property values in the long run, especially in larger cities.
I do know a few people in London, and at least one of them rents, because they can not afford to buy a home. It also takes a long time to sell a home in England, because they are so expensive, and there is a lot of regulations overseas that we don't have here. Closing costs are more and the whole process takes much longer.