No I don't live in London, but also no, I can't live anywhere that I could get a flat for 150k like you've shared below. I work in the semiconductor industry as a hardware engineer; fully remote is unheard of, so I need to live within a commutable vicinity to work. The cities with any SC companies that aren't Defence are Bristol, Oxford, London, or Cambridge. All way over 90 minutes each way in rush hour traffic to Andover. There's a reason the flat you shared is cheap - unless you're commuting to Reading, you're spending hours each day on the motorway.

In my current area of Oxford, I'd be looking at minimum 250k for a crap 2 bed flat with furnishings from the 1960s. That's not to even start considering parking, a decent leasehold, and public transport links. Closing on 350k if I dare even consider choosing a freehold house, or a place with a garden. I'd love to get a job Cambridge or London way, as career opportunities are much more abundant, but then I'm looking at nearly 450k for a half decent 2 bed.