Living in London is supposed to be great but these six recent stories about the cost of living here suggest it actually sucks.

Our capital is often, quite rightly, touted as being one of the greatest cities in the world.

However, it is becoming nigh on impossible for most people to be able to afford the price of being a Londoner and have a decent quality of life that doesn’t involve living in a shoebox or with 20 other people.

Here is a selection of stories that show the severity of the situation – read ‘em and weep:

Save £450,000 moving to the commuter belt

Properties in central London cost on average £450,000 more than homes an hour away.

The average cost of a property in zones 1 and 2 is a jaw-dropping £722,000.

But if you instead choose to live outside the capital and commute in from places such as Crawley, Colchester, Newbury and Chatham you’ll be paying £272,000 on average for a home.

This Is Local London: Commute: Colchester North Station. Picture: NIGEL BROWN (ZDD4F-05)

Even living 20 minutes out such as in Ilford, St Albans or East Croydon can cost you £321,000 less than in central London.

Research was carried out by Lloyds Bank and based on data from the Land Registry.

Save £400 a month living in Madrid and commuting to London

City workers could apparently be better off moving to the Spanish capital and flying into London for work than living in Camden Town.

That is the claim from Tessa Jowell, who’s hoping to get the nod as Labour’s London mayoral candidate.

This Is Local London: STAR MAN: Real Madrid ace Gareth Bale is at the heart of Wales' Euro 2020 bid

Swap London for Madrid like Mr Bale here did and you could be quids in

It’s based on calculations that put the cost of renting a one-bed flat in north London and travelling to Liverpool Street for work at £2,128 per month.

However, the cost of renting in Madrid, flying to Stansted and back four days a week and getting the train to Liverpool Street is worked out at £1,725 per month – a saving of £403 a month or nearly £5,000 over a year.

Adios London!

Only two boroughs below £300,000 for average house prices

All but two of the London boroughs have average property prices of more than £300,000, according to government figures.

The London average is £481,820, with only Barking and Dagenham (£278,604) and Bexley (£287,732) below the £300k mark.

There’s little cause for any bargain-hunting optimism though as both these boroughs have had double-digit house price growth over the past year.

They have it so much easier in Europe

A study has found the average cost of just renting a room in London is a staggering £692.

This makes London not just the most expensive place to live in this country but also in Europe.

The London figure, which has increased 13 per cent in just three years, is way ahead of continental cities such as Paris (£397) and Milan (£363).

Renters in Valencia (£165), Palermo (£166) and Malaga (£185) are paying the cheapest prices, according figures from flat-sharing company EasyRoommate.com - so you can swap the rain and expense of London for somewhere much sunnier and cheaper.

This Is Local London:

Extra costs crippling Londoners’ finances

One report has found a third of Londoners cannot afford a decent standard of living because of extra costs of living in the capital, such as housing and transport.

It costs up to 50 per cent more to reach a decent living standard compared to the rest of the UK, according to research for the charity Trust for London.

Food, travel costs and rent are all higher in London, with a single person in inner London spending £410 a week to live, including housing and childcare, £130 more than the UK average.

Rocketing rents keep on rising

It now costs almost a fifth more to rent in London compared to just four years ago.

The cost of private renting in the capital increased by 17.9 per cent between January 2011 and June 2015, the highest rise for any region of Britain.

The figure is almost double the national average of 10 per cent, according to data from the Office for National Statistics (ONS).

This Is Local London:

Have you struggled keeping up with the cost of living in London? Have you made any extreme lifestyle changes to cope? We’d love to hear any stories you’ve got so email us, tweet us or get in touch on Facebook.