I moved back to London a couple months ago in May and while I don’t have the money to purchase a house in London, it’s certainly interesting to see the statistics of the 32 boroughs in London. I live in Newham and surprisingly this borough fairs quite well compared to other boroughs that have bad reputations. It’s actually not that bad living here, even though Channel 4 berated the borough in 2007 and ranked it as being the 3rd worst borough in London. However, ever since the £15 billion pound spend on the 2012 Olympics the area has been revitalised and business has picked up. I don’t think it deserves that 3rd position on that Channel 4 list anymore and it should no longer be on that list.
Another advantage that I have definitely seen on a financial basis comes from transport costs. To get to work I have to pay £136.80 per month to get from zone 3 to zone 1. If I were living in Barking or Dagenham then I would have have to travel from zone 5 to zone 1, bringing the monthly cost up to £199 – a £62.20 saving. It’s definitely worth the effort in looking at the different costs associated with living in various areas, and who would want to live in Barking or Dagenham anyway? Although, according to this infographic it’s the cheapest borough to be living in right now. The property value in this borough has actually gone down by 4.15% over 3 years.
Feel free to play around with this cool interactive infographic by NatWest and if you’re already living in London checkout your own borough to see how it compares with other boroughs.
This tool is brought to you by the NatWest Mortgages team.