I know some families locally who are having to move out of Forest Hill because they can't afford a decent sized family home as prices have gone up so much. We moved into our house a couple of years ago, and if we were to move now we wouldn't be able to afford it. I think it is sad if people are being priced out of the area.

our place in HOP has gone up a lot in the the space of a year and a half. it would be a massive stretch for us to buy our place if we were looking now....I would probably consider catford/penge/sydenham/CP now.

Yes, impact of Overground which (despite the weekend shutdowns) has made area better connected) and you are getting buyers from north London, who can't afford to buy up there. 3 bed Edwardian terrace (admittedly very good one) next to me in HOP went for £500k just like that last year (and probably more now). I'd be surprised if Crystal Palace is cheaper myself.

CP is if anything more expensive. We spent over a year looking and bought last summer, we noticed prices went up significantly everywhere in FH, CP, HOP and surrounding areas last year. CP by comparison to FH/ HOP has a lack of good housing stock (rather than flats) and very few good houses seemed to come on the market. We have friends looking now who dont want to spend much more than £450k for 3 bed house and they are looking at the places mentioned above (but not CP). Anerley may also still be cheaper than FH.

maybe not CP then. but catford and crofton park are not too bad. i might find a few rightmove examples and post them

look at this for example:

http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-...41335.html

would be 550 in HOP most likely.

http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-...96603.html

and this is a lot of house for the money and near what looks like a good school.

My husband and I are a recent example of refugees from north London wanting to buy something bigger than a shoe box.

In FH we got exactly double the square footage for our budget compared to where we were (Crouch End).

We bought a lovely flat on London Road in October and if that one had fallen through I'm pretty sure we would've been priced out, it seemed very competitive, lots of demand which pushed the price up. Our place was on the market for all of 3 days and they had enough interest to do sealed bids.

The London property market is horrible!

Michael, thanks for your kind words. You're absolutely right, SW London is indeed even more expensive - unless you shuffle yourself into the odd enclave of affordable flats. The trade off, alas, is only two trains an hour into London, with the last train home at something like 10.30. Gone will be my lovely days here of just rocking up to the station, knowing I'll never have to wait long! And, having lived there before, there's no sense of community, and no lovely little shops and cafes on the doorstep. Argh!

And anotherjohn, yes, I saw those flats, and would definitely consider them - but as I say, I'm not able to buy yet, and I imagine that in a year's time, when I have the finance, those flats are going to have gone up exponentially, along with everything else. You never know - I might be lucky!

It's not just Forest Hill's issue, of course, this is a generic London housing market thing, and whilst I am frustrated, a lot of that is actually inward, at having made one or two decisions which have unwittingly led to this inability to buy something I like, somewhere I like (and trust me, I don't need a mansion in Belgravia!). I'd like to stop caring - I rent a lovely flat, and have super landlords - but what happens when I finally hit 70 and get to retire?

Still, my best friend has four houses. (Because that's what people do these days, apparently.) So maybe when I'm a destitute pensioner she'll let me move into one of those - or the wendy house in the garden ;-)

May I tentatively ask if any of the contributors to this thread think allowing more homes to be built in Forest Hill, and other parts of London, would be a good thing, and help make housing overall more affordable? If so, how could we campaign for it?

This post was last modified: 13-01-2014 11:11 PM by Tim Lund.

Mighty Mouse
I was talking to my son earlier about the prospects of youngsters buying flats today, compared with when my mates were bought their first homes. I remember back in around 1980 most of my friends were buying 1 or 2 bedroom flats for between £18,000 and £23,000 in Catford and being in their early twenties they were only doing quite basic jobs on modest incomes - but it was still affordable. Contrast that with now when those same flats would be £200,000 - £275,000 and you'd need to be earning over £50k pa to be eligible for a mortgage. It's a different world! Luckily, (for my son) 6 years ago I managed to find a mainstream Buy-to-Let lender who'd take on a 19yr old non-earning student so he got himself a large 3-bed Victorian flat in central Forest Hill with current monthly repayments of only £385. Again though, today, the strict lending criteria and punitive setting-up costs - not to mention the property prices - would've made my son's scenario a non-starter; and this is why I'd jump on those Perry Vale flats. Whilst you're not in a position to buy and if you're happily renting I think that's cool. I can obviously appreciate you being a little concerned about whether you'll be able to afford to rent [considering the stupid rises] but I think there will always be landlords who rent at below market rates so you should be alright. Another thing that's worth mentioning is the shared ownership flats that are being offered by housing associations - like the Printworks development along by the railway in Clyde Vale. My sister bought her flat on that scheme back in the 80's and she gradually upped her ownership stake as her salary increased and it worked out really well for her. Anyway, I'm not a mortgage broker or anything but if you ever want to hook up for a chat with someone who might be able to give you a little benefit of many varied experiences of acquiring local property then PM me and I'd be more than happy to help you if I can.

Also, I've just noticed Tim Lund's post and I agree that more housing needs to be made available at affordable rents/prices. Unfortunately I can't offer any help with ideas on campaigning though.

There's the problem, right there.

House prices for period properties certainly seem to be going through the roof - not sure when it will end. We bought in 2005 but would not be moving here now due to the prices and can't see us trading up locally - Catford would be a consideration I think if we were moving now, some lovely houses flats there but the high street is a little different.

Sometime last year after visiting the Dacres Wood Nature reserve, someone who I think is a member of the local Labour Party, but who doesn't follow this Forum, and may well not have known my views on these questions, said to me something along the lines of how it was difficult to justify such underused space in the current housing crisis. So my current best suggestion for anyone who does want to campaign on this is to join the Labour Party and argue for policies which will increase housing density without building over our precious green spaces. Obviously those of us who enjoy our open spaces have a duty to encourage their wider enjoyment, so more local "Friends of" committee members please

This post was last modified: 15-01-2014 01:15 PM by Tim Lund.

I absolutely agree with them. And that goes for the Garthorne Rd reserve as well. Sorry.

We are desperately short of space in SE23, including public green space.
How can it be justified to lock these spaces away and charge people a dollar and a half just to see them every year if we are lucky?

When Dacres Rd reserve was open access 10 years ago, I spent many many weekends over there with my young children and it was like a fantasy land to them, with the meandering paths, the pond and visions of horse drawn barges being pulled along towpaths. We have very fond memories that will last a lifetime.

It would be a real loss to the area for this to be developed on. But these areas are lost to us already. That is the sad thing.

I agree - ever since moving here I have wished the two areas mentioned above were more accessible. Can anyone explain to me why they are not?

I think we have some great green space in se23 and close by.

Well we've drifted off house prices...

The main reasons Dacres Wood and Garthorne Road Nature reserves are not open to the public is that they are nature reserves rather than human habitats. Both sites back onto the railway line and Dacres Wood contains a pond. These aspects of the sites mean that they are potentially dangerous. Furthermore when Dacres Wood was open, it was used as a dump by some people and this can be a disaster for any natural habitat.

Dacres Wood is now open at least once a month but relies on volunteers to manage access. Devonshire Road is open at least twice a month in the summer but is a larger site and has more volunteers. Garthorne Road Nature Reserve is rarely open to the public and as far as I'm aware has no volunteers to do anything.

If you do want to visit a nature reserve, any time of year, there is the Horniman Nature Reserve at the bottom of the park, with a pond at the end which is carefully fenced off. Even better is Sydenham Woods which is a massive area of woodland for Inner London and great at this time of year if you like mud!

Nice one, Perryman!

"Take paradise, put up a parking lot"

Don't forget about Albion Millenium Green which most people I speak too don't even know about.

Greetings all se23ers!

I had to make the leap to Catford when stepping up to a house a year ago. The shopping centre is awful, but away from there I must say it is lovely.

I like checking back on here once in a while, my how FH has changed. I especially liked Baggydave's reminder of the days when there were no deli's / coffee shops / trendy bars and pubs.

Given how quickly the area has changed (3 years tops?) I think the same will happen to even places like Catford in time. Hence if you want to live in a house, etc, then you need to move somewhere where the gentrification has yet to arrive. Or be happy to pay £550k for a 3 bed house.

Good day all,

PVP