Under investment in the otherd if anything.

Not enough investment in building apartments, evidently.

Really? I’ve lived in London 10 years and have honestly never encountered this (and most people I know either live in flats, or live quite far outside of London in a house). Perhaps it’s just in a certain area you encountered this (or certain areas where I didn’t!)

You're hanging out with the wrong people. I've lived in/around London all my life and have not once encountered that weird measure of wealth.

Especially when you consider that flats in some parts of London are bloody expensive too!

In London I find that very hard to believe unless you were associating with some exceptionally rich people. The average flat prices was over £500K (most expensive is being sold for £175 million: https://onehidepark.uk/) and house was £800K. There's similar expensive ranges for rentals.

I'm not sure I know _anyone_ (who doesn't live with their parents) in London who doesn't either live in a flat or lives in a house with flatmates. And that includes doctors, CTOs, and lots of software engineers.

You're getting unfair downvotes. Are you English or something else?

One of the perks of living in England as a foreigner is you avoid the extreme class stratification that is English society or are at least given a pass.

And yes, to certain circles saying you live in a flat is akin to admitting you're poor. This along with your accent also identifies your class.

I avoided this by calling my flat an apartment though I lived in New Cross near Deptford which is definitely "low class" or as I liked to say, " gentrifying.".

That's definitely nonsense, I'd put money on there being many more rich Londoners in desirably located flats than same price house (further out/not so desirable).

The majority (loosely/anecdotally speaking) of the particularly desirably located houses are converted to flats.

My experience is more that having your own flat is a sign of wealth. Lots of people only have a room.

> it's also the people themselves, especially the natives. If you mention you live in a flat (as opposed to a house) people will look down on you because you're so poor. What's wrong with flats?

Native here. Born '74, perhaps ironically I lived in a house when young because my family were poor and we lived in charity housing. In '99 I moved out and lived only in flats until eventually leaving London in 2021, moving back into a house at age 46. Suffice to say I don't recognise this attitude in myself, nor any of my friends or colleagues throughout those 46 years. TBH I knew very few people that lived in a house in London for most of that time anyway.

I've never come across this in London, but only been living here for about 15 years total.