Newcastle has everything you could want from life in the UK. There’s easy access to award-winning beaches on the coast to the east, and a short drive to the west will take you to some of the most beautiful areas of the countryside (Northumberland National Park and the North Pennines Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty). The city is vibrant, full of culture and a great place to study - museums and galleries, bars and restaurants and a friendly, warm sense of community.
It’s a great place to live, but space in Newcastle is at a premium, so how do you make the most of your housing budget?
House prices in Newcastle
The city’s culture, increasing employment rates, and the investment that’s been made to enhance its amenities have made Newcastle an attractive place to live. The downside of that increased demand is that buying property in Newcastle is becoming increasingly expensive.
The city is also a hub for students. With two world-class universities—
Russell Group founding member Newcastle University and high-ranking Northumbria University—Newcastle is top of many prospective students’ UCAS wish lists. Quite a chunk of available housing in Newcastle is, therefore, taken up as student housing.
This level of demand has led to increased house prices (compared to the prices in neighbouring towns and cities). House prices have continued to increase despite the general downturn in the economy across the UK, and that trend doesn’t seem likely to be reversed anytime soon.
This overall increase in house prices means that if you’re looking to buy property in Newcastle, you may have to buy a smaller home than you’d like, simply so you don’t risk running into difficulties with your mortgage repayments as interest rates increase.
So, whether you’re living in Newcastle and looking to downsize or are a first-time buyer moving to Newcastle, you may have to make some tough choices between what you want and what you can afford.
Prioritise your living space needs
Where do you and your family spend most of your time? If you have young children, you might want a large living room and kitchen so that you have plenty of space to spend time together. If you have teenagers, chances are they’ll want to spend most of their time in their own bedrooms, so a large living area is less of a priority.
Decide what rooms you need—how many bedrooms, living space, and bathrooms. Consider looking for properties that don’t quite have these rooms already but have enough space on their floor plans for you to make internal changes (subject to your budget), as these might be considerably cheaper.
If you can afford more space than you absolutely need, great! If there’s a garage, space for a shed, or a loft, all of that storage space can be really useful and will stop your living space from feeling cluttered and cramped. If your budget doesn’t stretch to additional storage space, you might need to think creatively about how to store your excess belongings.
Consider external storage
If you find a home that’s:
- Within your budget,
- Has all the living space and rooms you need,
- Has a good ‘feel’ …
… but it doesn’t have enough space for your bike, camping or sports gear, and seasonal belongings (such as Christmas decorations, winter clothing, extra blankets), don’t immediately discount it.
It can be much cheaper to buy a house within your budget for monthly mortgage repayments and rent external storage space than buying a larger house so that you have room for your decorating gear!
Your belongings that you don’t use all the time can be safely stored in a self-storage unit away from home. Using your understairs cupboard just for your vacuum cleaner and ironing board will be so much easier than using it for your extra bags, shoes, and winter boots. A self-storage unit will help your home feel more organized, functional, and less cluttered.
At Safestore, you can access your self-storage unit seven days a week, 365 days a year, during our normal trading hours. You can rent a car boot-sized locker or a room large enough to store the entire contents of your home, and any size in between.
Students in Newcastle often use our self storage units for the holidays, so that their belongings are kept safe and secure while their student accommodation is empty. Residents and homeowners in Newcastle use our self storage units to store excess personal belongings that they don’t want to clutter up their homes.
Find the right area of Newcastle for you
Student areas tend to be in the city centre and surrounding areas such as Jesmond, Healy, and Sandyford. Families and young professionals favour areas such as Gosforth, Fenham, Ouseburn, and Quayside.
Wherever you settle in Newcastle, you won’t be far from all the amenities on offer—plenty of green spaces (
Jesmond Dene is gorgeous), museums and galleries (the Great North and Discovery museums and the
Biscuit Factory Gallery are great places to visit again and again), and more restaurants and nightlife venues than you could ever need.
Get in touch
If you want to prioritise your housing budget on the space you’ll use productively and really appreciate, consider
renting a self storage unit at one of our stores in Newcastle. We have indoor, secure self-storage units at our Newcastle Central store (on Forth Street) or our Newcastle Wallsend store. We also have stores a little further afield in Sunderland and Gateshead.
Give us a call, chat with us online, or fill in our contact form, and our friendly team can answer any questions and give you all the information you need to make an informed decision about renting a self-storage unit in Newcastle.