The Daily Telegraph - Saturday - Money
Leaving London? These are the capital’s best commuter villages
Buyers are moving further afield and pushing up prices. Melissa Lawford finds the best spots under £500k
In the last year, commuter belts have expanded massively. Buyers are no longer happy to sacrifice a bigger home and greenery for the sake of a shorter train journey, because many now only need to stomach the commute once or twice a week.
But now that you’re no longer chained to your train station, where should you buy around London?
Savills estate agents has analysed property prices in village parishes within 10km (six miles) of all stations that have a journey time of under 45 minutes into the capital.
Here, we investigate where you can move with two budgets that will benefit from the largest stamp duty holiday savings in proportion to house price.
A BUDGET OF £300,000
You’re priced out of the belt that is to the south west of the capital, but there are 22 parishes across the other compass points. To the east of London, St Neots station in Cambridgeshire is a hub for good value commuter villages. Ollie Henson, of Giggs and Co estate agents in St Neots, said: “Now buyers only need to go into the office one or two days a week, all of a sudden village properties have shot through the roof.”
He added: “Before the pandemic, 30pc of our buyers were London commuters, but since Covid that has jumped to 50pc.”
Little Paxton, where the average property costs £270,208, sits two miles’ walk from St Neots’ town centre. It has a primary school and is also home to Paxtons Pits Nature Reserve.
Prices are up 5pc year-on-year across the county, said Mr Henson. “That’s the strongest market growth we’ve seen in eight or nine years.” Brampton, where the average home costs £ 298,205, is home to an airfield which is being redeveloped into new homes.
To the south, Kent’s stations of Gillingham, Gravesend, Rochester, Chatham and Ebbsfleet International all offer speedy commuter rail links within 40 minutes to London stations. Many of the village parishes surrounding these stations are on former brownfield industrial redevelopment sites. Andrew Harwood, of Strutt & Parker estate agents, said: “Burham and Wouldham are two standouts on the edge of the Kent Downs with great accessibility.”
Here, average prices are £ 279,395 and £ 261,746 respectively. They are both near Strood station which is 34 minutes into St Pancras. “Twenty years ago, these villages were sleepy, but in the last five years ago there has been an explosion of development and interest,” said Mr Harwood. Half of buyers in Kent are moving out from London, he added.
Matthew Hodder-Williams, of Knight
PRICE £220,000
AGENT Country Homes
Frank estate agents in Sevenoaks, said homes in the parish of Horton Kirby and South Darenth are most popular with Londoners making their first move out of the capital. Here, values sit at £274,141 and the journey time to London from Ebbsfleet International is just 19 minutes.
Newington, where homes cost £ 265,028, has a 38- minute journey to London via Chatham station but is the most picturesque, with a 12th century church.
To the north west of London, Flitwick station in Bedfordshire provides homeowners in the villages of Wootton, Cranfield and Marston Moretaine with a 41 minute commute to St Pancras. Stewartby, also within reach of Flitwick, has an average price of £228,022 – making it the best value commuter village.
In Berinsfield in South Oxfordshire, the average property price is £249,726. The train journey time from Didcot Parkway station to London Paddington is 41 minutes.
Times are changing for the parish. Justin Jeffery, of Allen and Harris estate agents in Wallingford, said: “Half of £400,000 what we’re selling there is probate, but we are selling all of those homes to firsttime buyers coming out from Oxford or Reading, who make up half our market.” Homes in Berinsfield sell for 15pc to 20pc less than equivalent properties in the nearby towns Abingdon or Wallingford, he added.
The Government-backed 95pc mortgages announced during the Budget are providing a further boost. “We are getting buyers coming out viewing properties in preparation for when the mortgages come out this month.”
A BUDGET OF £500,000
The village of Cranleigh on the edge of the Surrey Hills used to be a commuter hub with a rail link into London via Guildford.
But in the 1960s it became a casualty of a bid to make Britain’s railway lines more efficient and the station was demolished. Locals must drive to Guildford for a 37- minute train to London Waterloo.
Now Cranleigh is having a commuter