Cheaper to rent in Barcelona and commute to London (2013)

[stavros]

Guys the author isn't actually proposing that this is a viable option to working, they're highlighting how absurd the rent disparity is, and how cheap the flights are.

I'm really surprised that the comments here are seriously critiquing the viability of spending fourteen hours a day commuting.

[usrnm]

I'm sorry, are you seriously proposing that I should read the text before commenting on it? That isn't how the things are done around here.

[Cthulhu_]

It was, this article is from 2013; the cheapest flights I can find now are twice as expensive round-trip, and will likely go up even further to discourage frequent flying to try and reduce emissions.

[TomK32]

In 2008 I had a colleague who commuted from Birmingham to Lambeth. Sadly trains aren't as cheap as planes.

[jack_riminton]

You're not seriously suggesting that HN commenters like to nitpick small details and miss the wood for the trees?

[DeathArrow]

It's normal that different countries have different housing markets. What do flight price have to do with housing market?

[delegate]

This article is from 2013 and it's not true anymore.

Just did a search and the cheapest 3-bedroom flat in Les Corts area of Barcelona starts at 1500 EUR/month, compared to 680 EUR/month in the article. There are only 2 offers at this price, the rest start at 2000 EUR / month.

Cheapest flight to London (and back) on same date (Nov 20) is now 76 EUR, compared to 34 EUR in the article.

Interestingly, the prices in London seem to be around the same as in the article.

[reedf1]

I live in NW5 - the reason for the stable prices is that there was an episode of extreme house price growth in the area circa early 2010s that has completely flat lined, and in some cases, reversed. Some might argue this is a case of conscious organised de-gentrification by several London boroughs.

[eb0la]

Salaries in Spain, are around the same, too.

[vizzah]

Exactly. Not possible to rent anything livable in BCN for 700 EUR/pcm. Flats in good condition/location now start from 1400EUR and immediately attract hordes of applicants. Estate agents don't even bother replying to most of them.

[lm28469]

Cheap and sunny places in Europe got extra fucked by airbnb, digital nomads and, more broadly, capitalism. Locals are still paid more or less the same as 10 years ago but housing grew 50-100%. Why would your rent a flat for 600 euros a month when you can get 100 euros per night from tourists

[seanhunter]

Joking aside before the jubilee line went to Canary Wharf (out in the East of London) I used to work there as a contractor. A new guy from Glasgow[1] got hired and for the first couple of weeks while he found a place in London he commuted by plane from Glasgow every day. He got a place in West London. He found it had been quicker each way to fly than to get from West to East London, and of course the coat of living in London is way higher so the difference would have more than paid for the flights if he had stayed. It’s no longer the case as there is a tube the whole way.

[1] in Scotland, the opposite side of the UK.

[eb0la]

Some teachers in Ibiza fly daily from Majorca because rental is too expensive. Of course it works because flights between the isles are subsidized by the goverment, but stuff like this happens.

Link: (in spanish) https://www.periodicodeibiza.es/pitiusas/ibiza/2024/03/06/21...

[chvid]

Take your hourly wage and calculate how much you could have earned instead of sitting in transport. From that find the most cost/earning-efficient place of staying. My guess is you will end up somewhere in London.

[mcherm]

If you are paid hourly and can adjust your number of hours this is a sensible way to compare. But many of us are paid a fixed salary. Also, many of us could potentially get work done while commuting.

[mr_mitm]

I get the point, but can Stansted really be considered as being in London?

It sounds like a trick by Ryanair to make the airport sound more important than it is, similar to their airport Frankfurt-Hahn which arguably isn't anywhere near Frankfurt.

[rounce]

It's in Essex, and the London moniker is silly but it's a 45min train ride to Liverpool St so about the same journey time as coming from Finchley in London zone 4 (even if it does cost 4x more each way).

[frant-hartm]

Depending on where you are going in London, flying to Stansted / Gatwick might be faster than to Heathrow or City.

[alanl]

I worked in London in the mid 00's with someone who did this.

  - He worked 2 Days at London Office, 3 days WFH in Spain.
  - He would book his flights about 3 weeks in advance and stay in a cheap hotel for 1 night.
  - As a contractor/sole trader, he could offset some of the costs against his taxes.

If I remember correctly, his reasoning was that the combination of costs, better weather, and being close to friends/family made it worthwhile.

[madcaptenor]

I've seen this with other city pairs - for example there was news of an intern doing Charleston (South Carolina) - Newark (New Jersey) that made the rounds in 2023. https://www.cnn.com/2023/06/15/business/tiktok-summer-intern...

But her internship only required one day a week in person, so this isn't the same as a daily commute, and would be less viable now with increased RTO most places.

[kopirgan]

Lol I think once the high speed rail is laid across Malaysia there could be similar logic for living anywhere along and commute to Singapore for work. Rate disparities are far worse.

[delta_p_delta_x]

People already commute from Johor—not just JB, but further afield too. But yes, stops along the Singapore-KL HSR route will get very gentrified, methinks, as rich Singaporeans move across the border for cheaper housing and lower costs of living.

[wtcactus]

This totals a commuting time of 9h a day - never-mind all the hassle.

What are the renting prices for places in the UK that are 4.5h a drive/train away from London?

[rich_sasha]

I guess it sounds like a bug, but it is effectively a feature. The real cost of a flat in London is the proximity to things that people want - well paid jobs, culture and tourism. Nice flat + long commute thus can cost far less than small flat closer by.

Door to door commute time is probably, what, 3 hrs one way at best. You can probably get some quite stunning properties in the UK on the same budget with a 3 hr commute.

[lifestyleguru]

> Nice flat + long commute thus can cost far less than small flat closer by.

Unfortunately this compromise is invalidated in England by their train prices.

[reacharavindh]

I wonder if it’ll be normalised in the future to live in a place like Barcelona and travel to a place like London once a week for two or three days for work and then go back to live in Barcelona. Perhaps a hostel like place in London to crash after work + Pub in those 3 work days, while enjoying a nice comfy house and local culture in Barcelona for the rest of the week..

[forgotoldacc]

> while enjoying a nice comfy house and local culture in Barcelona for the rest of the week..

Kind of hard to have any local culture when everyone local is pushed out by rich elites from another country who fly to commute and can afford to have two homes in two countries. AirBNB, "nomads", and the likes are city killers.

[tinyspacewizard]

Brexit made this far less likely - but perhaps people in France, Germany, Spain, etc. could do this.

[lifestyleguru]

You will not sleep cheaply in London, forget about it. Housing and train prices in London blew up every budgeting into some absurd dimension.

[badpun]

Maybe it could be normal for a while, but eventually we'll start running out of oil, which will make flying expensive.

[happymellon]

From October 2013

[Cthulhu_]

I did a quick check (https://www.zoopla.co.uk/to-rent/property/west-hampstead/) and contrary to what I thought, a 1 bedroom apartment over there is still in the same range as 2013; I was sure it would've been double by now.

[lifestyleguru]

Well 2013... "good old times"... which I missed because had no money then. It's not true anymore as rent prices caught up in basically every marginally attractive location within EU, while salaries haven't. In particular case of Spain, Brits played shameful role in wrecking their housing market.

[lazyant]

Canadian example, this year https://dailyhive.com/vancouver/ubc-student-flying-commute-c...

[gnabgib]

Not a great example. An Air Canada student pass is 6 flights for for $1200 (not terrible value).. so $400 a round trip. With classes twice a week that's $800/week, $2400 a month, or $9600 for a 12 week semester (the shortest in Canada, many are 14).. excluding finals (+1 return flight, + hotel nights or inconveniencing friends)

4 months of rent in Vancouver at $2000 is... $8000. $1600 more, plus the utilities he pays his parents, plus time wasted travelling, plus bonus flight at finals and hotel nights (possibly offset by skipping a day during the semester).

[dang]

Discussed at the time:

Cheaper to rent in Barcelona and commute to London - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6617319 - Oct 2013 (270 comments)

[amunozo]

An apartment like that could cost 1500€ today. Also, flights are also more expensive.

[metalman]

hour for hour, it is cheaper to fly from Nova Scotia to Cuba or Venezuela,etc than it is to talk on the phone,thats just the flying time.Need to find out about accomodations, food and travel. Self employed, so making excuses and begging off for Jan/Feb is looking more optional, or the optimum option.

[wdb]

You should check how much a taxi ride is from like Suffolk to London. Last time it was nearly £200