You could always spot a classic London commuter belt town from the lemming-like morning exodus of grey suits and their synchronised return around 10 hours later.
But the dual phenomena of rocketing property rents and widespread flexi-working are redrawing the commuter map and adding entirely new notches to London’s trusty, old – and expensive – commuter belt. People whose previous daily London commute has been whittled down to once or twice a week at most have found a more spacious, cheaper and better life based in rural Sussex, Dorset or even as far afield as Devon.
They may be extreme – and some are ruing their decision, following the call back to the city office. But a new survey by the short-stay accommodation experts Nezt looks at the most affordable commuter towns within a very do-able distance from London, based on the average monthly rent and the cost of commuting. And topping the list is Leigh-on-Sea, the smart part of Southend on the Essex coast, approximately 38 miles from central London. The average rent in Leigh-on-Sea is £931 and the monthly commute costs £200. Compare that with London itself, where the average rent is now £2,121, or the least affordable commuter towns, according to Nezt, such as Oxford (£2,071 a month for rent and train combined) or Brighton (£1,914).
Ashford and Luton rank second and third in Nezt’s ‘most affordable’ index, and the historic Medway town of Rochester is also among the top 10. Nearly twice as expensive for rent and train travel are old stalwart commuter towns such as Sevenoaks in Kent and Elmbridge in Surrey. Families and young professionals are questioning whether it’s worth it when they can have so much more a few stops further down the train line.
Investment opportunities
Where migrating London renters head, investors should take note. As the likes of Margate and Folkestone have shown, the signs of regeneration – artisan bakeries and coffee shops, farmers’ markets and art galleries – are quick to follow, and property prices invariably follow suit.
Good transport links are an essential part of the equation too, of course. As the Elizabeth Line celebrates it second anniversary on May 24th, it’s a handy reminder of all those predictions made for years before it opened about how much the new rail link would boost property prices near its stations.
Acton in West London has been one of the biggest beneficiaries, with JLL research showing that since work began on the Lizzie Line in 2009, average house prices in W3 have risen by 117% – outperforming the wider Ealing borough (98%) and the London average (104%). And developers have been piling in to capitalise on the area’s growth potential with the likes of Barratt London’s Royal Gateway development part of Acton’s multi-billion pound regeneration.
There’s a balance, of course, between affordability and desirability. There are places on Nezt’s list that may rank highly for the former but would be hard pressed to claim the latter. The low entry prices of affordable commuter hotspots may be appealing for buy-to-let investors, but low rents and little capital uplift in neglected provincial towns are a turn-off.
There is also a fine line between regeneration and gentrification. The latest phase of Sir Roger de Haan’s transformation of Folkestone has been accused of pricing out the locals, with two-bed flats in the new Shoreline development costing £660,000 – more than three times the local average.
Demand beyond the capital
It’s not just a London commuter story either. Bristol’s rents have risen to be the most expensive in the country outside London – which is driving tenants to leave their city rentals and move to nearby coastal towns such as Clevedon or commute from South Wales. In the north, meanwhile, estate agents Gascoigne Halman report high demand for affordable properties to rent or buy in bucolic Whaley Bridge in the Peak District, among those making the one-hour commute by train to jobs in Manchester.
Stockport has also become a sought-after Manchester commuter belt location. With 259 trains a day making the 10-minute journey to Manchester Piccadilly and £1bn investment in the town centre to include a new bus station to link to the Metrolink tram network, the positive knock-on effects on Stockport’s high street scene are tangible. Locals report a boom in independent businesses, including restaurants and bars, and new opportunities for city centre living close to the transport hub will include the development of brownfield sites such as Weir Mill with thousands of new homes.
As living costs rise, the commuter belt – like the nation’s waistlines – continues to expand. Only one of them has the potential to be good news, though, and it’s not our stomachs. As city commuters eke out more affordable places to live, they bring investment, new businesses and a new identity to such towns. And who even wears a grey suit anymore?
Zoe Dare Hall is an award-winning freelance journalist who lives in London, has worked on national newspapers for 25+ years and specialised in writing about global property for the past 20. She covers all areas of UK and international property for the Financial Times, The Times and The Telegraph, delves into the lives of the super-rich for magazines including Telegraph Luxury, Sphere and The London Magazine, and writes about buy-to-let issues for the NRLA’s Property magazine.
