The Craziness of London Property Prices
Logo
+44 (0)1444 708 640
CLOSEMENU

The Craziness of London Property Prices

Jonathan Lea

I spotted the story in the Daily Mail today about Foxtons trying to flog a tiny one bedroom flat in South East London for £450,000. Given the level of demand, the continuing low interest rates and ease of borrowing for the wealthy, plus the number of overseas contacts I know wanting to put money into London property, in the same way people store value in gold, then I won’t be surprised if they sell it for that, if not more.

The flat happens to be on the street I used to live on in South East London a few years ago. Not only is the property a tiny, poxy one bedroom flat, but it is in a pretty soulless part of South East London, in zone 3, next to a block of council flats and on the borders of Camberwell and Peckham, an area with a pretty high local crime rate.

The average income in London is meant to be about £28,000.

So just a one bedroom flat in a dodgy part of South East London is now 16x annual income.

No doubt the bankers and their politicians will continue to keep interest rates low and restrict new building so as to protect the value of ‘their’ assets (when all they do is add a few digits to their balance sheets whenever someone agrees to sign up to one of their debt obligations). At the same time everyone trying to earn a living in the real world, attempting to build capital themselves, will get poorer and poorer as the value of their savings will be inflated away.

As for me, this has definitely cemented my decision to move long term to another part of the world where property prices are not so wildly unaffordable and where the financial system is not so out of control.

PS: This Keiser Report programme from last year gives a good overview of the UK’s housing bubble ponzi scheme:

PPS: Discovered on Twitter:

About Jonathan Lea

Jonathan is a specialist business law solicitor who has been practising for over 18 years, starting at the top international City firms before then spending some time at a couple of smaller practices. In 2013 he started working on a self-employed basis as a consultant solicitor, while in 2019 The Jonathan Lea Network became a SRA regulated law firm itself after Jonathan got tired of spending all day referring clients and work to other law firms.

The Jonathan Lea Network is now a full service firm of solicitors that employs senior and junior solicitors, trainee solicitors, paralegals and administration staff who all work from a modern open plan office in Haywards Heath. This close-knit retained team is enhanced by a trusted network of specialist consultant solicitors who work remotely and, where relevant, combine seamlessly with the central team.

If you’d like a competitive quote for any legal work please first complete our contact form, or send an email to wewillhelp@jonathanlea.net with an introduction and an overview of the issues you’d like to discuss. Someone will then liaise to fix a mutually convenient time for either a no obligation discovery call with one of our solicitors (following which a quote can be provided), or if you are instead looking for advice and guidance from the outset we may offer a one-hour fixed fee appointment in place of the discovery call.

We are always keen to take on new work and ensure that clients will not only come back to us again, but also recommend us to others too.

×
Get In Touch

Contact Us

In need of legal advice? We would love to hear from you!

Name(Required)