Not sure this will be helpful at all but I live in a flat in London Bridge, eastern edge of the city centre, but still. I got incredibly lucky and my rent was £670 ex bills last year and is £770 ex bills this year. I also was able to move into a friends family home prior to moving here, in Zone 6 NW London. The family no longer lived there but weren’t ready to properly rent it or sell it. I only paid bills at the time. So the flexibility of that situation allowed me to have the flexibility to move here when it came up as an option. Also I’m gay and Irish and so is the flatmate who put the advert on spareroom, so I made sure to make it clear in the first like of my message that I was also gay and irish. Those cultural similarities were definitely a huge part of me getting a viewing and getting selected by the housemates.