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Comment by adwhit | Hacker News Reader

Rent for my 1-bed flat in London zone 3: £19000/year.

Can London really continue to have an interesting tech scene under such circumstances? Tech wages (outside the financial sector) are around £30k-£60k.

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Then you are paying way too much. There's lots of smart 2 beds in Putney for the same price - zone 2, close to the high street & shops/mall/supermarket, 5 mins walk from railway (17 mins to waterloo) or tube (20 mins to earls crt, south ken etc)

Whereabouts, specifically? 'Zone 3' varies quite a lot; I recently moved out of a 2-bed flat in zone 3 which was 12K/year. It was a large 2-bed as well: main bedroom could have held 3 double beds, living room was about twice that size, large kitchen (huge by London rental standards) with room for a dining table, garden. Rents are increasing by about £1,000-1,500/year, but that doesn't account for the difference. I suspect you are talking about a pricier part of zone 3.

A quick search on e.g. rightmove.co.uk suggests there are multiple studio flats and one beds in the Shoreditch / "Tech City" area (some in zone 1) in the £14K-£15K pa range. Still not great I know especially on a £30K-£60K pa salary, but significantly cheaper than £19K pa, and the savings could help you start building up a deposit.

Good question. I think it will, but I think other cities will continue to draw talent.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/yourbusiness/11390230/Bou...

I will venture a guess - it's a nice and refurbished (or newly built) apartment, unlike majority sub-standard quality accommodation in London, thus the price. I am paying more or less the same for a studio in zone 1.

Housing is expensive in London, but £19,000/year (£1,5833/month) is way too much for zone 3. You can find cheaper and closer...

I'm living in zone 2, and rent is £1,300 for one bedroom flat.

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