SURREY Worplesdon PRICE £475,000 AGENT

Chancellors This three-bedroom, Victorian semi-detached house has a south west facing garden

renaissance. Ian Camplin, of Savills, said: “More people are moving further out and planning to do a longer commute but only for two or three days a week. The change is seismic.”

Before the pandemic, a quarter of buyers were moving out from the capital, said Mr Camplin. Now, Londoners – mainly from south west areas such as Richmond, Wimbledon, Barnes and Putney – account for half the market. Homes here cost on average £485,764.

Cranleigh’s London escapees are seeking a country lifestyle, said Mr Camplin. They are a different set to those buying in the village of Worplesdon, on the other side of Guildford, who are more metropolitan types. Worplesdon has its own station with a direct 33-minute line to London, and properties are on average £468,192. The London links are important as local broadband connectivity is what Mr Camplin politely describes as “improving”.

Further south, buyers can purchase homes in the villages of Ardingly and Lindfield in West Sussex for £457,165 and £491,708 respectively. Nearby Haywards Heath station has direct trains to London Victoria, while Balcombe station has a 44-minute link to Blackfriars. A little north, closer to Crawley, commuters can purchase in Turners Hill for £496,789 and catch the 30- minute train from Gatwick Airport to Victoria.

Relative value is key. Toby Whittome, of agent Jackson- Stops, said the pandemic has brought a surge of purchasers moving further out from Surrey, West Sussex’s more expensive neighbour. “Now that they can work from home, they’re moving here to buy a £500,000 house that would have cost them £650,000 in Surrey.”

The share of Surrey movers has jumped from 5pc to 20pc of local buyers, said Mr Whittome. Prices for the most sought-after homes are up 10pc in the last 12 months.

To the north of the capital, Bishops Stortford station provides commuters in Manuden, across the county border in Essex, with a 38-minute link to London Liverpool Street. Homes here cost £460,788.

In Hertfordshire, the parish of Great Amwell has access to London via nearby stations St Margarets and Rye House, which both have links that take around 40 minutes. The fastest commute is via Broxbourne, a 12-minute drive south, where the train to Liverpool Street is 32 minutes. Homes in Great Amwell cost £458,001.

In the parish of Wooburn in Buckinghamshire, commuters can catch a 23- minute train link to London Marylebone via Beaconsfield, a fiveminute drive from the village. Homes cost on average £492,275, which is around half the property price of its traditional commuter hotspot neighbour Beaconsfield, where average prices hover around £1.1m.

The property market here is centred around the village of Wooburn Green – which historically was based around a working mill. Here, schools are key to driving house prices.

Jon Davies, of Crendon House, a local estate agent, said: “You can cut the village in half.” Prices on the Loudwater side of the green are much higher, as this is the cut off line for the popular St Paul’s Church of England Combined School.

At least half of local buyers work in London, said Mr Davies. The stamp duty holiday has been a key driver of demand since the pandemic, said Mr Davies. “But where people have saved on stamp duty, they have paid even more for the properties.” Semi- detached houses that sold for £410,000 before the pandemic are now going for £480,000, he said.

Elsewhere in Buckinghamshire, the parish of Thornborough has a 41-minute commute from Milton Keynes station while the village of Haddenham also had a 41-minute link from its own station. Respective house prices are £454,965 and £463,872.

‘The change is seismic. People are moving further out and commuting for longer’