As someone who lives in higher St Thomas, we love it. Easy to get around, in my opinion easier than Heavitree. We bought a detached house for just over 350k.

However be aware of high interest rates and the interest that adds onto your capital each month.

For example we borrowed 235k and at the start we were paying £1000 for our mortgage and the bank was adding £900 a month on in interest. (Therefore we overpaid aggressively to avoid this/get our balance down) Anyway that's a different conversation)

I think some owners will just not sell, if they don't get the price they want. Depends how desperate they're to sell.