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HOLA441
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11 hours ago, b_real said:

Being fair, they are looking at a relatively expensive bit of Cambridge. If you’re a first time buyer on an average wage, of course you’re not going to be able to afford anything in West Cambridge, but they could probably afford something in Arbury, Kings Hedges, Chesterton or Abbey if they could leave their snobbery behind

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1 hour ago, Bug16 said:

I don't think it's an issue of "snobbery"..

Agree. If your combined income is £50k you're looking at a maximum mortgage of what ... around £250k? As of 5 minutes ago, there are about a handful of 2 bed flats for that price around Arbury, Kings Hedges, Orchard and Chesterton, and they're all far too small and impractical for a couple in their 30s who no doubt want to start thinking about raising a family. 

Cambridge is pretty heavy on the shared ownerships these days. Dodgy as.  

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35 minutes ago, b_real said:

Agree. If your combined income is £50k you're looking at a maximum mortgage of what ... around £250k? As of 5 minutes ago, there are about a handful of 2 bed flats for that price around Arbury, Kings Hedges, Orchard and Chesterton, and they're all far too small and impractical for a couple in their 30s who no doubt want to start thinking about raising a family. 

Cambridge is pretty heavy on the shared ownerships these days. Dodgy as.  

Mortgage of £250k, deposit of £40k-£50k gets you £290k-£300k, about the going rate for a large 2 bed/small 3 bed house in Arbury/Kings Hedges/Abbey, all of which are perfectly fine areas. It's not exactly cheap for what you get, but It's not quite true that they can't afford to buy in Cambridge, just that they can't afford to buy in the bit they want.

"First time buyers on average wage can't afford to buy a house in leafy, desirable NW Cambridge" isn't exactly news.

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On 20/10/2017 at 2:11 PM, MuTron1 said:

Mortgage of £250k, deposit of £40k-£50k gets you £290k-£300k, about the going rate for a large 2 bed/small 3 bed house in Arbury/Kings Hedges/Abbey, all of which are perfectly fine areas. It's not exactly cheap for what you get, but It's not quite true that they can't afford to buy in Cambridge, just that they can't afford to buy in the bit they want.

"First time buyers on average wage can't afford to buy a house in leafy, desirable NW Cambridge" isn't exactly news.

And where would you get £40-50k from? First line from the article says "Rental costs combined with high house prices means it is impossible to save a deposit to buy a home". 

Those would not be my first choice areas to live in. The buildings are pretty awful.

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On 23/10/2017 at 2:31 PM, b_real said:

And where would you get £40-50k from? First line from the article says "Rental costs combined with high house prices means it is impossible to save a deposit to buy a home". 

Those would not be my first choice areas to live in. The buildings are pretty awful.

They might not be able to even afford to live in those areas, but I'd have a bit more sympathy if they had at least considered them. It's understandable that they want to buy where they are currently renting, but its not always possible. Anyway, I think the best advice for them would be to carry on renting and wait for the house prices to fall, as they are currently doing.

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How do you know if they didn't consider other areas? The article says the couple couldn't afford to buy in Cambridge. Only at the end of the video did it mention anything about them wanting to buy in Castle. They may well have considered all areas of Cambridge. 

Their point still stands. Even a £300k 2 bedder in Kings Hedges / Arbury etc. is not affordable on a combined salary of £50k without significant help in the form of a massive deposit. 

For an average person/couple... £50k to get you a £250k mortgage, a 5% deposit is £12,500. Meaning you're really looking at between £250k - £260k house price after you've factored in fees, stamp duty, moving costs etc. (fag packet maths there!). And it can take years to save up that kinda cash when you're spending a third of your salary on rent. 

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15 hours ago, b_real said:

How do you know if they didn't consider other areas? The article says the couple couldn't afford to buy in Cambridge. Only at the end of the video did it mention anything about them wanting to buy in Castle. They may well have considered all areas of Cambridge. 

Their point still stands. Even a £300k 2 bedder in Kings Hedges / Arbury etc. is not affordable on a combined salary of £50k without significant help in the form of a massive deposit. 

For an average person/couple... £50k to get you a £250k mortgage, a 5% deposit is £12,500. Meaning you're really looking at between £250k - £260k house price after you've factored in fees, stamp duty, moving costs etc. (fag packet maths there!). And it can take years to save up that kinda cash when you're spending a third of your salary on rent. 

I'm just going by what was said in the video, so maybe its the journalist/video editor to blame rather than the couple. But I do very much agree that even the cheaper areas are unaffordable.

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On 10/27/2017 at 5:24 PM, Timak said:

:D that just made me wince a little bit! 

Has anyone seen the new developments around Eddington? https://www.athena-cambridge.co.uk/availability/

£539,000 for a ~70msq 2 bed apartment, 2 miles away from Market Square. I THINK i read that right. From their email, this development "provides new homes both for sale and for university key workers and staff". Clever wording there, clearly the 'for sale' bit and the 'university workers & staff' bit are mutually exclusive.  

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On 11/10/2017 at 4:18 PM, b_real said:

:D that just made me wince a little bit! 

Has anyone seen the new developments around Eddington? https://www.athena-cambridge.co.uk/availability/

£539,000 for a ~70msq 2 bed apartment, 2 miles away from Market Square. I THINK i read that right. From their email, this development "provides new homes both for sale and for university key workers and staff". Clever wording there, clearly the 'for sale' bit and the 'university workers & staff' bit are mutually exclusive.  

Love the "Duplex apartment on the first and second floor" yours for only £599k.

The grand total of the "first floor living" is a front door opening onto a cupboard and the bottom of a stair case!

 

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On ‎10‎/‎11‎/‎2017 at 4:18 PM, b_real said:

:D that just made me wince a little bit! 

Has anyone seen the new developments around Eddington? https://www.athena-cambridge.co.uk/availability/

£539,000 for a ~70msq 2 bed apartment, 2 miles away from Market Square. I THINK i read that right. From their email, this development "provides new homes both for sale and for university key workers and staff". Clever wording there, clearly the 'for sale' bit and the 'university workers & staff' bit are mutually exclusive.  

Eddington is actually a rare example of development done right, though. There are some units for sales (at what appears to be market rate for a new build in that area) but a lot of it kept in university ownership to rent out to their staff at fair rates (I think it's set at a 3rd of your income if you're eligible, rather than a specificied amount) with a big emphasis on sustainability, innovation and build standard, rather than building to a low budget to maximise profits. The University went over budget, and is looking at it as a long term investment, hence doing things like using the cooling system from the data centre housed there to heat the community buildings, building a school, community arts space and underground bin network, etc.

That they're charging the going rate for a new build in West Cambridge, similarly priced to the Trumpington development, but at a much higher standard.

 

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1 hour ago, MuTron1 said:

Eddington is actually a rare example of development done right, though. There are some units for sales (at what appears to be market rate for a new build in that area) but a lot of it kept in university ownership to rent out to their staff at fair rates (I think it's set at a 3rd of your income if you're eligible, rather than a specificied amount) with a big emphasis on sustainability, innovation and build standard, rather than building to a low budget to maximise profits. The University went over budget, and is looking at it as a long term investment, hence doing things like using the cooling system from the data centre housed there to heat the community buildings, building a school, community arts space and underground bin network, etc.

That they're charging the going rate for a new build in West Cambridge, similarly priced to the Trumpington development, but at a much higher standard.

 

Delighted to hear they're doing it properly but are you saying that £539k for a 2 bed apartment is what the market rate is for that area? I don't actually know that area well so just asking. Seems high to me. 

I do however know the Trumpington area well, and these are not similarly priced in the slightest. These came on the market for £390k-£425ish. They mostly seemed to be fairly decent quality when I viewed them, but not all. Even the ones by the train station were on at £425k.

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17 hours ago, b_real said:

Delighted to hear they're doing it properly but are you saying that £539k for a 2 bed apartment is what the market rate is for that area? I don't actually know that area well so just asking. Seems high to me. 

That price is crazy, even in Cambridge you can pick up a decent 3 bed house with that price.  For comparison this flat is in a much better location, near the river and closer to the town centre

first listed for £525,000 on 24th Jan 2017, now on offer for  £400K

https://www.zoopla.co.uk/for-sale/details/42762555?search_identifier=4745afc3592846cafc87cdcdda4486e6#jR7bsGqOCHgYsgDh.97

looking at the jobs available on the university website here:

http://www.jobs.cam.ac.uk/job/

very few of the employees could afford to buy even the studio flats at Eddington :/

 

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24 minutes ago, tyres said:

very few of the employees could afford to buy even the studio flats at Eddington :/

Yeah I think the ones that are for sale ...  are not for sale to staff. Clearly they're for the overseas investor, like most of the new builds around town. Average salary and average prices are at massive disparity in Cambridge.

My friend works for the uni, they get paid peanuts. He is actually a monkey tho so that works for him, but its a problem for most of the humans :D

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The market housing at Eddington is eye-wateringly expensive. Sure, they are built to a high standard but they have no outside space and will be on a very odd development where the University runs everything and the population will be very transient with university staff only allowed to rent there for a max. of 3 years. Also the developers are selling these at just the time the housing market is going into a nose dive. How many international buyers will want to take a risk when the effects of Brexit are so unsure? Certainly not many from either of Cambridge's big employers (uni and hospital) will be able or willing to buy them when for the same money you can buy an established house with outside space.

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HOLA4421
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HOLA4422

This has just made me dry wretch...

1 Bed flat in Kings Hedges - £299,000 - sorry 'Orchard Park'.

Quote

What is cohousing? 

Home doesn't start at your front door. Home is the street where your children play, where you meet and catch up with neighbours and the space you share. Home is being part of a community. 

Located in the Orchard Park area of Cambridge, Marmalade Lane is a cohousing community that promotes neighbourly living and helps conserve the environment. 

Each energy- efficient, beautifully-made home benefits from shared facilities that bring people together to participate in a community life with sustainable values.

Relax in your own garden or private balcony, while your children play safely in the large communal garden. Eat with your family at home, or get together to cook dinner with neighbours in the Common House. There are even additional spare bedrooms you can reserve when you have guests staying the night. Cohousing gives you the freedom to live a more sociable way if life. Membership fee and annual service charges apply. Please contact the selling agent for further information.

Houses so small they're advertising living outside in the communal streets. Even the pictures look like they were taken on set on Peaky Blinders.

Utter despicable c*n*s. 

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You need to understand the aims of co-housing which is to create a community feel by people sharing communal space rather than spending all the time in one's own little box. I think it is an interesting concept and works well elsewhere. Here's a link to more information and there are case studies there of other UK co-housing projects

https://cohousing.org.uk/about/about-cohousing/

Don't be so quick to judge what you do not understand.

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1 hour ago, gannet59 said:

You need to understand the aims of co-housing which is to create a community feel by people sharing communal space rather than spending all the time in one's own little box. I think it is an interesting concept and works well elsewhere. Here's a link to more information and there are case studies there of other UK co-housing projects

https://cohousing.org.uk/about/about-cohousing/

Don't be so quick to judge what you do not understand.

All very well- when it's a choice.

Your hippy dreams will turn out to be  nightmares when bottom of the barrel single mother welfare queens invade your "community".

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