We rent in Brixton – should we move out of London to buy?

We’ve been looking at places around the south-east, but they seem dull and boring

Q I rent a two-bed flat in Brixton with my husband and two daughters who are eight months old and two. Rather reluctantly we have been thinking about moving out of London to buy a house somewhere in south-east England that is commutable to London for work. It makes sense for us to move south as we both grew up in East Sussex and both sets of parents still live there. We have been visiting places down south to see if we would want to live there but everywhere seems really dull and boring. We have been to Tonbridge, Horsham, Haywards Heath and Hastings. The only place we liked was Hastings but have ruled it out as it would be a two-and-a-half-hour commute door to door to work in Islington. Also, we love living in Brixton. It’s diverse, vibrant and busy so we’re very worried wherever we move to we’re going to be miserable. Our budget is £375,000 and ideally we’d like a house but would consider a big flat if it’s somewhere cool.
BD

A I wonder whether your views of Tonbridge, Horsham (ranked last year the 19th best place to live in the UK in the Halifax quality of life survey) and Haywards Heath – have got anything to do with your discovering – as so often happens on the BBC’s Escape to the Country – that you don’t get as much property for your money outside London as you thought you would. Or maybe it’s the feeling that you don’t actually want to move away from Brixton that is colouring your judgement so that anywhere that isn’t Brixton is going to make you miserable. It’s probably also pretty depressing feeling that, to be able to buy somewhere big enough for you all, moving out of London is your only option. Except that it’s not if your annual household income is less than £90,000 and you are prepared to consider shared ownership rather than buying on the open market which, with your budget, you can’t afford to do. You can find out where there are shared ownership properties by going to www.sharedownewrshipweek.co.uk which pointed to two developments in Brixton at www.sw9apartments.co.uk – eight minutes’ walk from Brixton underground – and www.electricquarter.london which is a 12-minute walk. Both developments are flats rather than houses but if you are prepared to compromise on the type of property, you could buy a 25% share in a three-bedroomed apartment for £156,250 plus monthly rent of £1,075. At £312,500, a 50% share would still be well within your budget.

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