It's a good job you live in Forest Hill then because the creative element here seems to be growing by the day.

The interesting thing for me is not that prices in Forest Hill are going up, it's the fact they are going up relative to other areas of London and in particular outer London and the South East. This must mean that more and more people want to come and live here and are discovering the benefits of the area. If lots of people are choosing FH over other areas this has to be good for our local economy, shops, businesses etc. and I think we're really beginning to see the benefit of this.

Yes my retirement fund is improving on an almost weekly basis - still it has taken close to 30 years........

I do think it was (for London) very cheap for what you got compared to other parts of London for a long while. When we bought our 3 bed 30s house 3 years ago our family thought us to be mad paying what we did (and us too being honest) but that same amount of cash only got us a 1 bed flat in 80% of the places we'd looked. Now similar houses are going for 2/3s of that again.

I hope it doesn't continue at this pace though. It's been so refreshing living somewhere in London which is a healthy mix of ages, interests and backgrounds. I lived SW for years and found whilst most pubs did lovely food, the place was sterile, transitional and fairly lonely being so renter heavy or made up of posh roads with gated houses. I think we're years from that here (helped partly by the great arts scene and links to other trendy parts of London on the Overground) but my walk to work this week went past 8 or so houses currently being gutted, carved into flats or having a basement put in. People are free to do whatever they wish obviously and London's always in flux, but I'd hate to see FH turn into another soulless part of the capital.

A few neighbours down my road who have lived here for 40 years are cashing in and going whilst some people I know who were about £10k off a deposit in FH now can't afford much of note as far away as Sidcup, meaning whole families could be forced to move in the future. I know it's all about supply and demand, but it just seems a shame that this spike could have that effect.

The shops have generally improved tenfold in my time here but we've seen a great jerk chicken family business go where the butchers now is and a launderette close. Plenty of people around here need those kind of places just as much as they do another coffee shop; they're what makes FH be such a great place to currently be, that mix of the useful, entrepreneurial and posh. The local council seem good here (see the fight to save Lewisham Hospital and the pool redevelopment), FH Society do sterling work and things like the Sydenham Arts Festival are great so I reckon we're in same hands I just don't think 'gentrification' and a decent gastro pub or two should come at the expense of 1000s of families who have lived here for 20+ years.

Agree with the sentiments above. Even with the increases, HOP/FH still is one of the most affordable areas for the distance to the center. Unfortunately, there are people coming from Hackney/Balham/Clapham/Dulwich where 700k for a 3 bed is a bargain..

About the house in Chelsfield Gardens that was mentioned earlier in the thread (small 3-bed house posing as a 4-bed by calling the dining room a bedroom, and on at an astounding 700K) - that house has been removed from sale, and a similar 3-bed house in the same road is on at 425.

Quite heartening in its way.

well I have jut cashed in my chips and have bought a huge double fronted Victorian house with separate 1200 square foot office barn for £200k less than the £800k I just sold my house in HOP for, in a village outside of the charming Saffron Walden.

Nothing wrong with HOP AFAIK I was ready to move the family out anyway but I was genuinely surprised that the valuation came in ok

This post was last modified: 14-06-2014 12:15 PM by Southlonder.

My friend used the regional house price differential to his advantage back in 2008 when he took his £925K for a very nice 4-bed terraced house in Wandsworth Common and bought the most stunningly beautiful 6-bed house with a massive detached coach house, dairy, ornamental gardens and 12 acres for £715K.

Over the past 6 years he has clearly enjoyed everything that went with spending his £200K tax-free capital gain and the loves the air, the space and the pace of life up there - but he admits the travelling can be a bit of a drag.

Recently he spoke to his old next door neighbour who told him that he got out at the right time because life in London is more hectic than ever. They also mentioned in passing that the people who bought his old house has just sold for £1.75M without doing anything to it, which then prompted him to get agents round to have his current house valued - even though he says the money doesn't come into it because things are absolutely perfect for him and his family and moving was the best decision that he's ever made. The agents came back with a top valuation of £750K.

Hi Anotherjohn, I guess that is the problem with moving out of London - if you don't plan to move back it's not an issue and works well, but if you wanted to move back at some stage, you are possibly better off renting your place out and renting yourself out of town, if possible.

I have another property in FH that I rent out but I'm not moving back, no chance.

I was born in Kent so although I've lived in London for 20 years, I always thought I'd move on. I expect the majority of folks are like that, since most aren't born in London?

Given the lack of school places this will only continue? South London has served me really well with a young family but I can't imagine my kids properly growing up here

You can't make assumptions on what other people want based on your experience. Neither my husband nor I are from London. we have no plans to leave, ever. I raised both my kids here. They've had wonderful and stimulating childhoods. Now they are teens, London public transport means I rarely have to provide a Mummy taxi service and they are never bored.

Each to their own.

Yep agreed

I grew up in London - while there's upsides and downsides for children and young people growing up in any location, for me there were certainly great benefits about growing up in a diverse urban community with easy access to all the amenities of the big city. And I intend to give my children the same. When people tell me pityingly they are moving out of London for the quality of life I always tell them we're staying in London for the same reason.