Anyone with a brain in their head and a smartphone in their pocket can tell that we’re in a deep crisis when it comes to housing at the moment.
The number of social housing projects being built by councils and the government – across Scotland, England, NI and Wales – aren’t meeting demands. The number of socially rented homes in England fell by 120,000 between 2012-2016, according to Crisis.
They say not enough homes are being built to replace those being taken out of social housing stock and into private ownership through Right to Buy or when they’re moved into a higher rent bracket, making them unaffordable for those on a lower income.
Young people, in particular, are struggling with home ownership. The number of 26-41-year-olds buying a home has dropped 11% in five years, and with the cost-of-living crisis and stagnant wages, it can sometimes feel like there’s no end in sight.
Well, some of you might be interested to learn that a castle – yes, you read that right, a castle – is actually cheaper than owning property in London, where the cost of living clocks in at over £3,200 per month.
Consider, for example, this stately home in picturesque Wooler, Northumberland. On the market for a cool £1.9m, it’s a grade I listed building featuring (deep breath)... 25 acres of land, a main house, a three-bedroom cottage, a garage, three stables, a barn, workshops, a library and more rooms than you can count.
With the average cost of a house in London being £523,666, and many reaching into the tens of millions, you could make your money go further with a sprawling castle that has all that space than a pokey one-bedroom London flat with no garden.
That is if you’re lucky enough to afford a deposit on a nearly two million pound house and are happy living in the middle of nowhere.
Here are some London flats that are more expensive than this castle…
This two-bedroom flat in Hoxton Square.
This two-bed on Shoreditch High Street. Shoreditch has been named one of the most expensive tech centres in the world.
This flat is on Holland Park Avenue, in the fancy shmancy boroughs of Chelsea and Kensington.
Yeah, we’ll take the castle, thanks.