Highbury

[Imploding Turtle]

I thought this might interest some of you as much as it interested me.

http://imgur.com/gallery/ssT0X" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[Rowls]

Very glad they kept the old Art Deco facades. Highbury was the best ground in the country in terms of architectural aesthetics.

[Redbeard]

'Bertie Mee said to Bill Shankly
"Have you heard of the North Bank, Highbury?"
Shanks said 'No, I don't think so -
But I've heard of the Longside, Burnley!" '

[Sidney1st]

It is quite impressive really.

[iluva64]

2bed flat on Zoopla in the main Art Deco block - £750k

Can't see that price at Rovers

[Rowls]

I can't imagine they'll want to keep the stands when they knock Ewood down.

[Suratclaret]

I can't imagine they'll want to keep the stands when they knock Ewood down.

They'll need somewhere to stable the horses...bit of imagination needed to convert them but I'm sure the Highbury architects could come up with a design.

[cricketfieldclarets]

Amazing developnent. And amazing what they have done to London as a whole. Regenerating a lot of run down areas.

But that gentrification has meant prices are more unreasonable than ever before and anywhere in the world.

With the increase of home working and improvement in employment and business in places like Manchester I can only see prices in London crashing eventually. They arent sustainable and every property in London is now only worthwhile for landlords.

I think places like Burnley will benefit (in terms of house prices). The link to manchester shouldnt be understaed. But then we have the countryside on our doorstep. Leeds, Liverpool, Manchester all within an hour drive.

Always been a massive fan of london. But to buy property there now would be foolish imo. You would need to be on 200k plus a year anyway to buy anywhere decent and even then youd be better buying up north and renting down there. And the London wages is a bit of a red herring. They dont pay that much more for the same work (in some cases less).

[Corky]

House prices, not just in London, but in the South East generally are ridiculously high. Normal 3 bed properties in areas like Fulham, Chiswick etc are over a million. Those roads you walk down by Craven Cottage with all the grand looking terraces, they will all be over a million. Even where I live in Hampshire a 5 bed on a busy street just down the road from me is on at £1.2 million. A similar house in Burnley would be what £250,000.

And all the new developments going up in the likes of Nine Elms, I don't think there is one apartment (don't call them flats anymore) under a million.

There is a housing shortage but affordable housing for those that need it is not being built and then you get investors from abroad buying off plan and just leaving property vacant. In my view that shouldn't be allowed.

[cricketfieldclarets]

Agree. Kent, Essex, Surrey etc are all pretty much classed as an extension of London now and its reflected in the prices.

To be honest in 10 years from now i expect Burnley will be a proper extension / commuter town of Manchester. There already seems to be a lot of people moving in with no affiliation to the town that work in manchester. (Not that its a bad thing). But the prices will eventually reflect that.

There is still a lot of value in places like Burnley and Colne in houses. And if you look beyond the name and negative press it can be a good place to buy. Im not as emotionally attached to Burnley as some in that I necessarily want to stay there forever but its hard to make a case against buying property here.

There are some lovely places down south. But Burnley could be on the up and its location make its value unbeatable. Dales, Lakes, Coast, 3 major cities all within an hour. Oh and its own premier league football club

Where else can you get all that and a three bed house for under 100k these days?

And who would want to buy a million pound house in a place with no hills?

[dibraidio]

It doesn't make any sense to me having ordinary houses worth over a million. I mean, imagine a first time buyer who earns the London average 34K a year. He or she can borrow 205k. Even with two people earning the average wage you're still nowhere near half way to the price of a house.
Dutch tulip bulbs spring to mind. At some point that's a bubble that's got to burst.

[ClaretTony]

Some pics at the link that I took on a couple of our visits to the Emirates - actually got inside last time and went down the old players tunnel onto what was the pitch.

http://www.uptheclarets.com/memorabilia ... ier-league

[cricketfieldclarets]

It doesn't make any sense to me having ordinary houses worth over a million. I mean, imagine a first time buyer who earns the London average 34K a year. He or she can borrow 205k. Even with two people earning the average wage you're still nowhere near half way to the price of a house.
Dutch tulip bulbs spring to mind. At some point that's a bubble that's got to burst.

Agree 100 percent. I think it will happen. Its impossible for it to continue as it is. Although people house sharing and flat sharing to live the london dream means people are used to living differently and or expensively down there.

Had an oppprtunity to go down there permanently and was very close to doing so but glad I didnt now even though I love the place.

[fatboy47]

I remember walking onto the supposedly untakeable nasty North Bank back in 73/4 behind a big ugly unit called Illy...a self appointed leader of clarets, with no more than a dozen or so other Burnley fans...may have been around 2.30..the local neds scattered like crows and we held the centre of the terrace till gone kick off.

[Sidney1st]

Re house prices down south, I'm in Didcot.

Harwell is now an extension of Didcot, Appleford is 5 mins away, along with Sutton Courtenay.

"Terraced properties sold for an average price of £270,183, while detached properties fetched £396,459. Didcot, with an overall average price of £307,962 was cheaper than nearby Appleford (£464,625), Harwell (£389,118) and Sutton Courtenay (£449,100)."

If the average wage is £25k a year then houses are pretty much out of reach for the average person.
Your average shop worker earns less than £20k a year, whilst the best paid sales advisor at my local Euro Car Parts is on £30k, meaning he still can't afford to buy his own house in Didcot.

[Rileybobs]

House prices in London will continue to rise, why wouldn't they? Buying a property in London would be a fantastic investment, even now.

[HelloHiGoodbye]

Oh come on - house prices in London and the South East are perfectly reasonable. I mean, who wouldn't want to buy a basement cupboard at the end of Zone Six with a shared bathroom and no parking for £600,000?

[Rileybobs]

Oh come on - house prices in London and the South East are perfectly reasonable. I mean, who wouldn't want to buy a basement cupboard at the end of Zone Six with a shared bathroom and no parking for £600,000?

Who said house prices in London and the SE are perfectly reasonable?

[HelloHiGoodbye]

Who said house prices in London and the SE are perfectly reasonable?

It's a joke. I made a joke. It's sarcastic.

[Rileybobs]

It's a joke. I made a joke. It's sarcastic.

I thought you were responding to my post, because your response directly followed my post.

[HelloHiGoodbye]

I thought you were responding to my post, because your response directly followed my post.

Oh no, no. I would've quoted it.

[Rileybobs]

Oh no, no. I would've quoted it.

Thanks for clarifying.

[cricketfieldclarets]

House prices in London will continue to rise, why wouldn't they? Buying a property in London would be a fantastic investment, even now.

For a landlord I agree. Not for a 'proper' homeowner. And for that reason I suspect eventually it will burst.

[Rileybobs]

For a landlord I agree. Not for a 'proper' homeowner. And for that reason I suspect eventually it will burst.

I think it's a good investment for a homeowner, the rent is proportionate to mortgage payments. If you can afford to buy a property in London the chances are you'll be sitting on a very decent chunk of equity in 5/10 years.

The majority of people rent rather than buy in a lot of other European cities, I'm not sure that there will be a property market crash in London any time soon.

[cricketfieldclarets]

I agree. But who can afford to take the risk of getting a second mortgage to buy a buy to let in London? In fact who can qualify to get a mortgage to buy one in the first place?

As I say, to buy somewhere you would want to live you would have to be earning close to 200k a year to get somewhere 'nice'.

To get it as a buy to let would be neigh on impossible for the average homeowner. People are struggling to buy their own home never mind a second one in London!

It is a good investment I agree. But its unrealistic for many.

I love London and pretty much everything about it. And would live there in the right circumstances.

'If you can afford to buy a property in London' is your key statement in your post.

[Rileybobs]

I agree. But who can afford to take the risk of getting a second mortgage to buy a buy to let in London? In fact who can qualify to get a mortgage to buy one in the first place?

As I say, to buy somewhere you would want to live you would have to be earning close to 200k a year to get somewhere 'nice'.

To get it as a buy to let would be neigh on impossible for the average homeowner. People are struggling to buy their own home never mind a second one in London!

It is a good investment I agree. But its unrealistic for many.

I love London and pretty much everything about it. And would live there in the right circumstances.

'If you can afford to buy a property in London' is your key statement in your post.

By investment I don't mean buying a second property in London as purely an investment. I meant if you live and work in London, buying a property as your primary residentce would be a great investment as the property prices rise at a disproportionately higher rate than the rest of the country.

You don't have to be earning anywhere close to £200k per year to get somewhere 'nice', although I suspect the definition of nice is subjective. For example, I've just found a 3 bed flat in Brixton for £350k. With a combined income of about £70k (hardly substantial in London) you could get a mortgage for that. Of course, finding the £35k deposit would be difficult for a lot of people.

Now I'd not like to live in a flat in Brixton, which is why I don't live in London - but if I did live in London I would definitely look to buy a property rather than paying off a landlord's mortgage. This particular property has gone up approx £60k in 2 years - that's a ludicrously good investment.

[cricketfieldclarets]

£4k a month between two people. Buy a flat for £1,700 a month (at current low interest rates).

Thats before they save the £35k deposit whilst living in similarly priced rental accommodation. Before your utilities, travel costs, living costs etc. Before you know it you have a £350k flat and no life!

For this.

[claretdom]

Wonder if 350k gets you something a bit better than a poor mans Trafalgar Flats type property in Burnley

[aggi]

They're nice flats but you are paying a significant premium for them compared to something the next street over. Of course you do get the free gym, concierge and the rest as well (plus a hefty service charge) if that's what you're looking for.

London's gradually becoming less attractive for buy to let. The increased stamp duty on second home means you can be paying an extra £20k SDLT, the allowable tax deductions are far more restricted, there are limits on HMOs, etc

The property market is a little out of control in London for new buyers. I bought a few years ago but I'd struggle to afford the same flat now. I have a friend who has just bought a one bed flat for £600k, but in order to afford it it's through a shared ownership so he's only owning 30% of the place.

Mortgages aren't actually that dissimilar from rental prices, the trouble is getting the deposit together to get an affordable mortgage.

Personally I think the market probably will hold up. It may stop the rampant increases of the past 5 years and stabilise (and high value £2m+ properties may fall) but the fact is that there is a limited supply of housing in London and the demand outstrips the supply which is the main reason for the increase in prices.

Post-Brexit, London may become a less attractive business destination but it's never going to fall right off the radar and people are always going to gravitate there.

[cricketfieldclarets]

Most new flats will be leasehold as well. Newbuilds are also notoriously cheaply built (in the main) and have more problems, particularly early on than older housing.

I agree investing is as good as anywhere in London. But very few are in a position to do so in this day and age.

[tim_noone]

I remember walking onto the supposedly untakeable nasty North Bank back in 73/4 behind a big ugly unit called Illy...a self appointed leader of clarets, with no more than a dozen or so other Burnley fans...may have been around 2.30..the local neds scattered like crows and we held the centre of the terrace till gone kick off.

Illy a nice guy and a gentleman id say,though he was only a lad back then.used to travel away on central motors coaches. The police kicked ten bells out of him against huddersfield about 74 on the longside in the fa cup.police made the russians look like choirboys,a terrible beating!

[tim_noone]

Foreign investors already buying up the quality properties in manchester......londons done for the man in the street.the buying up of blocks of flats in vauxhall and elephant and castle for instance were poor run down areas,renters and owners alike refused to move and were then offered way above market prices £350,000 plus to move...though they didnt want to,they all got forced out didnt they? Where could they buy anything....the prices were rocketing.when demolished those sites were a million pounds plus apartments.stepney green,whitechapel bethnal green etc to the east sh!t holes in a way but the poor people who live there will be forced away eventually as the financial sector and big business encroach.shoreditch ten years ago was like dickensian london at night andearly hours.you wont get much change from a million now!

[ontario claret]

The old Maple Leaf Triple A baseball stadium in Toronto was also turned into housing, but nothing this imaginative. Looks like it would be great for Peeping Toms, too.