☛ EN Advice Cost of living in London

EasyExpat · Wrzesień 13, 2012

Hi,

We are interested by your feedback on the cost of living in London. With Easy Expat we have already a useful tool to compare the cost of living in some major cities in the world.

However we do not cover all the countries, nor all the destination where you can eventually decide to expatriate and gives a rough estimate. And a lot of questions come back regarding the cost of accommodation, transport or day-to-day life.

If you live in London, you can help the community and give information about the cost of living. You might be able to give indication and comments on the needs:
Food (what to expect, what to find).
Accommodation price in London. Rent?
Transport (public transport but also the necessity and cost of using a car)
Services (gaz, electricity, telephone, internet...)
Tax
Health, Education
Entertainment (restaurant, cinema, theatre...)
... etc.

Thanks in advance for sharing your experience with the community

EasyExpat · Wrzesień 14, 2012

I try to give you some examples, feel free to comment and give more below.

Accommodation (monthly rent)
> Furnished two bedroom house = £1300-1800 in zone 1-2
> Room in shared apartment = £500-900 in zone 1-2 (includes usually bills)

Food + Supply
> One litre milk = £1
> Cheese (cheddar) = £3.50 for 400g
> Bread (loaf of bread/toasts) = £1.40
> Nescafe = £6.50/200g
> Tea bags = £3/500g
> 1kg beef steak = £20
> Chicken (whole) = £4
> Toothpaste = £2
> Shampoo = £3
> Shower gel = £2

roughly ~£200 per person per month (including supply)

Utilities/bills
> Telephone line (monthly rental) = £13+ phone calls
> Internet (monthly rental) = ~ £30
> Mobile/cell phone bill = £40
> Electricity costs - apartment (3 bedrooms) = £450/year
> Gas costs - apartment (3 bedrooms) = £550/year
> Water costs - apartment (3 bedrooms) = £250/year
> Council tax = ~£1000/year

Transport
> Taxi = ~£20 for 10 minutes
> Bus = £2.30 single ticket (£1.35 if paid by Oyster card)
> Tube = £4.30 single ticket zone 1-2 (£2 if paid by Oyster card)

orderacab · Październik 30, 2012

Every year the tube fairs seem to go up. Delays still occur unfortunately, I wouldn't mind paying that extra bit if the service was actually improved.

Petrol prices rises are not specific to London but that is also a problem. It seems that the cost of living is rising and our wages are standing still

Cyrilexpat · Listopad 2, 2012

Rail fares in England are set to rise by up to 11.2% in January 2013 according to the Guardian.
The Londonist made an interested record of the Tue fares from 2000 to 2012:

Tube single journey zones 1-4: cash

2000: £2.60
2001: £2.70
2002: £2.70
2003: £2.80
2004: £3.00
2005: £2.80
2006: £3.00
2007: £4.00
2008: £4.00
2009: £4.00
2010: £4.00
2011: £5.00
2012 (original): £5.40
2012 (revised): £5.30

to be fair, high prices were introduced in 2004 in order to encourage people to use Oyster (or discourage people NOT to use Oyster ;-) ) so Oyster prices were:
2004: £2.80
2005: £2.50
2006: £2.50
2007: £2.50
2008: £2.50
2009: £2.80
2010: £3.10
2011: £3.40
2012: £3.60

Anyway you can see that over 12 years the cash fare rise is 100%.

For bus fare it's even worse:
Bus single fare including zone 1: cash

2000: £1
2001: £1
2002: £1
2003: £1
2004: £1
2005: £1.20
2006: £1.50
2007: £2
2008: £2
2009: £2
2010: £2
2011: £2.20
2012: £2.30

And Oyster is:
2004: 70p
2005: £1
2006: £1
2007: £1
2008: 90p
2009: £1
2010: £1.20
2011: £1.30
2012 (original): £1.40
2012 (revised): £1.35

As the effect of the recession years begins to be seen on incomes, the Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings data, based on a 1% sample of employee jobs drawn from HM Revenue & Customs PAYE records, shows that annual earnings have barely risen at all over the last 12 months, compared with a 2.6% rise in 2009 and a 4.7% increase in 2008. The Ashe data does not cover self-employed workers.

The patterns of pay from 1997 to 2009 is shown in a second document
For example:
Median gross weekly earnings MEDIAN for full-time employees by private sector:
2000: £18200
2009: £24180
So from 2000 to 2009 the median household income rose by +32%

Voilà

david79 · Luty 5, 2013

Hi admin,

Honestly, living in London is more expensive compared to many places in the UK. However the cost of living depend on the individual situation and taste, but you still need to be prepared financially.

It’s important to be aware of the costs which don’t let it put you off, as long as you plan carefully and think about cost-saving strategies. As I am working as a agent in Plaza Estate firm so I would give you a advice on average Cost of Accommodation here:
One Bedroom Flat Rental per month
East London £650 - £750
West London £700 - £800
South London £600 - £700
North London £650 - £750

Cyrilexpat · Luty 5, 2013

david79 napisał:

Honestly, living in London is more expensive compared to many places in the UK. However the cost of living depend on the individual situation and taste, but you still need to be prepared financially.
Kliknij aby rozwinąć...

Thanks for your tips David. I agree, it often depends on taste and style of living.

I am a bit puzzled by the One-bed ppm rate you gave. I just found some 1-bed split terrace house for more than £300/week in SW for example, so much more than the £700/800 per month range than you talk about.

AarenAce · Kwiecień 9, 2013

Basically, it depends on what kinda place you are looking for, the rent is generally expensive all over London, the closer you live from Central London, the more money you will cost for rent. Single room would cost you roughly £300-470 depending on location (including bills+council tax). For job? i mean what kinda job are you looking for, like part-time, full-time, professional or just general jobs etc.

cedriclondon · Kwiecień 9, 2013

Cyrilexpat napisał:

david79 napisał:

Honestly, living in London is more expensive compared to many places in the UK. However the cost of living depend on the individual situation and taste, but you still need to be prepared financially.
Kliknij aby rozwinąć...

Thanks for your tips David. I agree, it often depends on taste and style of living.

I am a bit puzzled by the One-bed ppm rate you gave. I just found some 1-bed split terrace house for more than £300/week in SW for example, so much more than the £700/800 per month range than you talk about.
Kliknij aby rozwinąć...

Less than 800 seems difficult. I pay 350 pw in Camden Town. I got the flat last September and there was almost nothing under 300 pw in Camden. You might find cheaper of course, but in zone 1 and 2, and probably 3, I don't think you would find under 200-250 per week.
3 sites for rentals: gumtree, zoopla and rightmove

tonyparker506 · Maj 8, 2013

Can you please tell me something about the accommodation price in London ?

Cyrilexpat · Maj 8, 2013

Information is in our guide for expatriation to London.

tonyparker506 · Maj 9, 2013

Hi Cyrilexpat,

Thanks for the reply!!! It will really help me to make some decision.

Cyrilexpat · Maj 9, 2013

tonyparker506 napisał:

Thanks for the reply!!! It will really help me to make some decision.
Kliknij aby rozwinąć...

??? :eh:

KylaKevin · Maj 9, 2013

tonyparker506 napisał:

Can you please tell me something about the accommodation price in London ?
Kliknij aby rozwinąć...

Accommodation prices in London compete with the most expensive in the world. For a decent two-bedroom apartment within 20 minutes by public transport to the city centre, you will pay around £1500. Go closer to one of the more prestigious areas (like Kensington or Chelsea) and accommodation goes up by 30% or more. For more on the various areas, check out our accommodation section.

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