We went through the exact same process at about the same stage in life. The thing that forced the issue was twins in a 1.5 bedroom flat. Our solution was to move out to a boring market town, NE of London. The downside if you work from home is that it's major effort to get into this week's must visit Web 2.0 event. And if you work in London, then you have an expensive and/or nightmare commute of an hour or so. The upside is that real countryside is only 10 minutes walk away. As for bankrupting you, yes, house prices are getting silly, but there's a parallel increase in rental availability. And for the same money as a flat in Arsenal, you'll get something 3 times the size and maybe even with a bit of a garden.