One of the major factors when buying a home is how convenient it is to reach your place of work. Finding an affordable place to live can be a challenge, especially when you consider both house prices and the rising costs of rail travel.
To help you, we’ve looked at two new pieces of research which highlight the most affordable commuter towns for London, Manchester, Bristol and Birmingham. Keep reading to learn more...
Aspley and Luton share top honours for London commuters
According to new research from an online mortgage broker and national estate agent, a town in Hertfordshire and a city in Bedfordshire remain the most affordable commuter towns for London.
Trussle analysed 2019 rail fares, average property prices, the length of a rail commute and average mortgage payments to find the best place to live if you commute to London.
They found that the town of Aspley in Hertfordshire, with a commuting time of just 52 minutes, was the most affordable place to live. Situated in a valley of the Chiltern Hills, the average mortgage payment and cost of rail travel is £1,139 a month.
Ebbsfleet in Kent took second place, with a short commute of just 36 minutes and an average property price of £243,000. Tilbury in Essex was the third most affordable commuter town, partly because of an affordable rail season ticket at just £204 per month. Basildon and Pitsea completed the top five.
Ishaan Malhi, founder and CEO of online mortgage broker, Trussle, comments: “House prices in London are unaffordable for a lot of people, so it’s little wonder that so many workers choose to commute from areas where they can get more for their money. This often comes at the price of hefty rail fares, and with the rise in transport costs, it’s important homeowners are taking this into consideration as they look to move house.”
While the Bedfordshire city of Luton was down in 7th place on the Trussle list, national estate agent Jackson-Stops has crowned Luton its number one commuter location for London for the second year running.
Using slightly different criteria including the cost of station parking, Luton came out ahead of Cheshunt in Hertfordshire and Slough in Berkshire thanks to its speedy trains and low average property price of £253,988.
Nick Leeming, Chairman at Jackson-Stops, comments: “Those looking to move this year will be carefully considering a raft of factors, from the impact of Brexit to the average house price of area – but for those commuters amongst us the time, cost and reliability associated with travelling into London by train will be key concern.
“One area which continues to outperform other surrounding London commuter locations is Luton, which benefits from as little as a 27-minute journey time to the city, comparatively low property prices and consistent house price growth. With the Bedfordshire town benefiting from significant inward investment over the next 20 years, we can only expect Luton to continue being a key spot for commuters, and investors alike.”
If you work in London, Trussle also revealed the most expensive commuter towns. Oxshott’s average property price of £1.7m sees it crowned as the least affordable place to live and commute into London, while Virginia Water is the second worst thanks to average property prices of £1.2m and an 87-minute daily commute.
Manchester’s best commuter towns revealed
Taking into account the cost of rail travel into Manchester, average house prices, the cost of station parking and the speed of a rail journey into the city centre, Gatley has been named as Manchester’s most affordable commuter town.
It takes just 16 minutes to commute from the suburb of Stockport into Manchester, and with free parking and 8% annual house price growth Gatley saw off the challenge of Stalybridge and Ashton-under-Lyne as Manchester’s most affordable commuter locations.
Levenshulme, Warrington, Swinton, Knutsford, Prestbury, Altrincham and Hale completed the top ten.
Avonmouth the pick for Bristol commuters
With train journeys taking just 31 minutes and a low annual season ticket cost of £360, the port of Avonmouth was crowned Bristol’s most affordable commuter town.
Newport in Wales came in second place with a low average property price of just £181,000 and a journey time of just 21 minutes. Keynsham in Somerset came in third place, just ahead of seaside resort Weston-super-Mare and the historic city of Gloucester.
Bath, Trowbridge, Chippenham, Taunton and Swindon completed the top ten.
Worcestershire and Staffordshire towns crowned Birmingham’s best commuter locations
Just 13 miles south-west of Birmingham sits the town of Bromsgrove. The Worcestershire town was once famous for producing cloth, and with a 26-minute journey time and annual parking cost of just £360, it has been named Birmingham’s joint most affordable commuter town.
The Staffordshire town of Tamworth came in joint first place. Despite its parking and rail costs being more expensive than Bromsgrove, journey times into Birmingham are as low as 16 minutes and the average property price is almost £55,000 less.
Rugby in Warwickshire came in third place, while Redditch and Worcester came in joint fourth position. Stratford-upon-Avon, Leamington Spa, Hinckley, Stoke-on-Trent and Northampton completed the top ten.