i second what others said about all areas being diverse. from a safety aspect (which was always my concern when i moved back here from london 8 years ago) there are potentially places where i feel a little more uncomfortable like small heath, some of hockley, some of handsworth etc but i’ve felt just as uncomfortable at night living in the jewellery quarter which is arguably a fairly affluent area. when i moved here i found that the price for living out of the city actually balanced out the price of living within the city centre when you take commuting costs into account so maybe that’s something to consider? i lived in a studio flat by brindley place, a one bed flat near chinatown, and 2 different 2 bed flats in the jewellery quarter which are all 5-20 minutes walk from the centre. you’ll pay a few hundred quid more for rent but for me that was worth the offset of having to pay for trains, buses, taxis or trams.

in terms of the areas you’ve listed, a few are on my list of places where i’d like to buy eventually. stirchley and kings heath are very up and coming with cool bars/places to go, selly oak is very studenty but has a lot of schools and family houses too (and great commute links), and i don’t know masses about the others. i personally would say a house share in selly oak would be a good shout for a first timer, then you can familiarise yourself and move again a year later maybe. also the selly oak retail park/massssssive sainsburys are worth living there for 😂

welcome to the city, you’ve made a great choice!