Revealed: The 10 most affordable commuter towns for London
07-29-2015
REVEALED: The 10 most affordable commuter towns for London
BUYERS can save hundreds of thousands of pounds off the price of a home by shunning London and locating just an hour's commute from the capital, new research has revealed.
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Peterborough, Cambridgeshire
Crawley, Newbury, Colchester and Chatham are among the towns where average price are up to £450,000 cheaper than a property in central London, found Lloyds Bank.
Even towns only around 40 minutes away from central London, including Reading, Stevenage, Sidcup and Billericay, give buyers a saving of up to £373,000 on a similar property in London Underground zones 1 and 2.
The difference in cost is more than enough to pay for increased travel costs, with an annual rail pass from these areas costing around £3,499 or up to £4,944 for areas further afield.
Overall the most affordable commuter towns were found to be Wellingborough and Kettering in Northamptonshire, where average house prices are £160,245 and £177,584 respectively.
Peterborough in Cambridgeshire and Chatham in Kent are also among the most affordable towns within commuting distance to London.
However, in other parts of the country homebuyers tend to pay less if they choose to live in the city centre.
In both Birmingham and Manchester, house prices are often higher outside the city in commuter towns.
The average house price in Birmingham is around £162,000, whereas property values in Walsall, Wolverhampton, Coventry, Burton on Trent and Leamington Spa are £175,000.
The same applies to a number of towns that are approximately 40 minutes away from Manchester, including Warrington, Chorley, Huddersfield and Macclesfield.
Andrew Mason, mortgages director at Lloyds Bank, said: "The decision to commute is not simply a trade-off between financial costs and journey times.
"Quality of life is an important consideration and in nearly all towns in this survey housing affordability is significantly better with a London salary compared to what can be earned locally."
Most Affordable Commuter Towns 2015
1. Wellingborough, Northamptonshire, £160,425
2. Kettering, Northamptonshire, £177,584
3. Peterborough Cambridgeshire, £182,114
4. Chatham, Kent, £183,140
5. Luton, Bedfordshire, £186,752
6. Basildon, Essex, £194,260
7. Swindon, Wiltshire, £195,212
8. Sittingbourne, Kent, £202,915
9. Northampton, Northamptonshire, £206,087
10. Rugby, Warwickshire, £209,320
Average property prices March 2015
Chatham, Kent [Getty Images/Moment Open]
Chatham, Kent [Getty Images/Lonely Planet Image]
Sittingbourne, Kent [Getty Images]
Swindon, Wiltshire [Getty Images]
Peterborough, Cambridgeshire [Getty Images]
