Lowri Griffiths on the UK’s growing billionaire population, what their existence means for her housing options, and the specific arithmetic of being a journalist in London in 2026
Bohiney Magazine | The London Prat
Britain’s Billionaires and My Zone 3 Flat Search: A Personal Finance Story
Britain’s billionaire count has risen, which I read on my phone while sitting in my current flat that I am leaving at the end of next month because the landlord is selling and has given me appropriate notice and the replacement flat I have been looking for in Zone 3 costs more than I can currently afford, which is an experience I am having at the same time as reading about the expansion of Britain’s billionaire cohort and experiencing the specific juxtaposition that this timing represents.
I want to be clear that I understand the relationship between billionaires and my flat search is not direct. The billionaires are not personally making my Zone 3 search difficult. They are not calling estate agents and specifically bidding against me on one-bedroom flats in Hornsey and Finsbury Park. They are doing other things with their money. The relationship between their money and my rent is structural rather than personal, which I understand and which does not make looking at the listings more comfortable.
The Zone 3 Arithmetic
The Zone 3 arithmetic currently works like this: one-bedroom flat, reasonable condition, accessible tube station, starting at approximately £1,600 per month in areas I had not previously considered Zone 3 competitive and reaching £2,200 for anything I would describe without irony as nice. My salary as a journalist who writes for publications including this one is the salary of a journalist who writes for publications including this one, which is a sentence that contains the relevant information without stating a specific number that I find I cannot state without a feeling I am categorising as professional vulnerability.
I have found a flat. It is in Tottenham, which is not where I planned to be but where the Zone 3 arithmetic has delivered me. The flat is actually fine. The street has good trees. There is a Lidl within walking distance which, given the cheddar situation I described last week, is relevant to my financial planning. Managing Britain’s housing market as a journalist in your mid-thirties produces Tottenham. I am making peace with this. The billionaire count keeps rising. The trees are nice. These things are apparently compatible.
More at prat.uk | The Daily Mash
