Yea, London is a total joke, as is Dublin - I have a few friends who rent in Dublin, and they live in a shoe box for a lot of rent (don't really know anyone in London)!

I am in Belfast, where the property prices only ballooned about 2 years ago, so I got lucky. Only a year or so after I got my house, friends were buying similar sized places that are less central for twice what I paid, not good!