Where To Buy First Property In Birmingham ?

[johnc057]

Hi,
We are young couple and moved to Birmingham for work and looking to purchase our first property. We both work in the Birmingham city centre and looking to spend around 150K for the property. If I am commuting on a daily basis (max 25 mins to new street) would like to stay near the train station (within 1 mile radius). Other option is to stay in the City vcentre .
Could you please advise me some list of areas I should be looking 25mins in train or within the city centre area.

Thanks

[Bazile]

There are lots of areas on the outskirts of the centre centre , within a 25 mins train commute to the centre .

Depends on want you want for your money - i.e location etc

[The Builder]

If possible, John, wherever it is, I would always advise buying new. Cheap terraced houses in Cities are always tempting. The trouble is, they will need constant maintenance.

The sad situation is that a great deal of the housing stock in this country needs bulldozing.

Look for development sites. Not just from the big, volume builders either. You may even be able to buy "off-plan" if there's something that's in the pipeline.

Also, shared ownership is a great start. Have a look here .............

https://www.birmingham.gov.uk/affordable-housing

[VHG]

I went through this same problem a few years ago when I moved from London to Birmingham.

You really need to study the local train routes to decide the best lines in and out of the city centre.

For example there is one line that runs from the South West (Redditch) up to the North East (Lichfield) and living anywhere on this route is a possibility. The trains come in to New St station.

I remember driving along all this route by car, all the way from Redditch to Lichfield, stopping at each of the stations and looking at each area.

So on the South West leg there is Bournville, Kings Norton etc which are pleasant suburban areas.

Longbridge is another in the south West, and the site of the massive old British Leyland car works is having a huge makeover with a new modern shopping area (Marks and Spencer and many other shops), plus a lot of new housing, all near the station. This area is certainly on the "up".

If you go up the North East leg then Sutton Coldfield and Four Oaks are nice, though housing may be too expensive. Perhaps consider Chester Road or Wylde Green which are on the same train line.

Another train route (that comes into Moor Street and Snow Hill station) comes from the South East and areas like Solihull, Olton, Shirley etc are all nice.

When I first moved up here I went to live in Four Oaks in the end, though you may find housing there too expensive. I now live on the South East leg train route, between Solihull and Shirley stations, that both come into Moor St station.

[VHG]

Here is a map showing the train route I mentioned above.

http://www.nationalrail.co.uk/css/NetworkRail_BirminghamWestMidlandsmap.pdf

Note that while many trains do come into New Street station there are trains that go into Moor St station and Snow Hill station that DONT go in to New St station so don't ignore them.

Both Moor St station and Snow Hill station are city centre stations and have less trains so a quieter so more pleasant to come in and out of if yo uare commuting.

On the map you can see the light green route that runs from Redditch in the bottom left up to Litchfield in the top right.

You can also see the orange "leg" that runs down to the bottom right into Olton, Solihull and Shirley.

Like most cities there are some pretty horrible inner city areas to avoid, but I wont list them here as I don't want to upset anyone.

btw The Jewellery Quarter is a good vibrant area for young people and there are quite a few new developments going on in the area. There is also a Jewellery Quarter station that takes you right into Snow Hill station and Moor St station (only a couple of stops).