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For those born and raised outside London: How often do you go back to see family?
only once or twice a year tbh. my parents are in a small town in the southwest so it's a whole day trip just to get there. i usually save up my visits for christmas and maybe a summer week. the cost of the train is honestly teh worst part, like 80 quid each time if i don't book way in advance
honestly it varies a lot for me, maybe 3-4 times a year? my folks are up north so it's not too bad on the train, but sometimes i go months without visiting then bam three weekends in a row
i visit maybe twice a year but i always stay for like a week at a time. my parents are in scotland so it feels like a proper trip not just a quick pop in. the flights are cheap if you book at the right time
What are some innovative ways to anonymously compare rental prices in a city?
SpareRoom's "rooms wanted" ads are underrated for this. people post what they're currently paying alongside what they want next, so you can scrape a rough sense of going rates by postcode without anyone knowing you looked. it skews young and flatshare heavy tho, so not much use if you're after 2-beds in zone 2.
Another one is just the depozit or tenancy deposit scheme data. not public-facing, but your council's housing officer can tell you median rents from deposit registrations if you email them under FOI. takes weeks, but its proper anon and nobody clocks u.
Rightmove and Zoopla only show asking rents, which are often 10 to 15 percent above what a place actually goes for, so they're a poor benchmark. The trick I've used is the ONS Price Index of Private Rents, which breaks things down to borough level and is genuinely anonymous since it's aggregate data, no listing or account needed. For something more granular, the London Renters Union runs a rent reporting tool where you submit what you're paying with your postcode and it maps it against others nearby, though the coverage is patchy outside the inner boroughs.
the openrent "rent check" thing is decent for zones 3-4 where the unions tool barely reaches. also worth checking the london.gov.uk planning portal for new build applications, they list "affordable" and market rent figures per unit in the viability assessments, which is basically the developer telling the council what they expect to charge. bit of a faff to dig through but its public, anonymous & nobody knows ur looking
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