Big life events, such as starting a family, have long driven the big move from the city to the commuter belt.
This urge to escape London soared during the pandemic. Four years on, and even though many workers have returned to the office, this trend has not reverted to pre-Covid levels. In fact, it has accelerated.
In the south east of England, 13pc of moves are made by those leaving London, up from 11.5pc in 2019 and 12.6pc during the pandemic, new research reveals.
“This is a shift to a new normal,” says Frances McDonald of Savills. “Families have always moved out of the cities into the commuter belt to upsize, but with the formalisation of flexible working patterns and a stronger desire to live closer to grandparents after the pandemic, it is more of a trend than it was during the frenzied urban exodus in the pandemic.”
Demand to live in the premium commuter spots, which tend to be on the edge of the M25 and along the south east corridors leading out of the capital, is rising. The number of moves from London into Surrey's dual towns of Epsom and Ewell has risen 5.7pc since 2019, and 4.6pc in Tunbridge Wells in Kent. Demand is up in Guildford by 3.6pc and has increased 2.8pc in Brentwood in Essex.
These are among the go-to commuter towns, well-established due to their train links and good schools. Such demand is reflected in the steep property prices – the average house price for a detached home in Epsom last year hit £974,800.
But it is possible to find pockets of value near the expensive commuter hotspots. Savills’ research has pinpointed the less obvious commuter destinations and their surrounding villages, where buyers can find better value for money.
Living in these locations requires compromise – perhaps they are one train stop further, or maybe the high street is smaller or in need of an upgrade. They might be missing the designer lifestyle brands – there’s no Anya or Mint Velvet, no Aga shop or a string of artisan bakeries yet. But they present the best combination of house prices, journey time, transport costs and rents. Renters are part of the equation here, too. Many have been forced further out of the capital into the commuter belt, following rent rises of 36.5pc since 2020.
The locations in this list all have a train station, and the average house price does not exceed £450,000. They are also located more than half an hour on a direct service into the capital and less than 110 minutes for the further-flung locations – here, we have broken them down by how often you need to commute into London.
Commuting five days a week
Redhill is the cheaper side to the popular market town of Reigate. Both are close to the M23 and the M25, and situated on the North Downs Way, nestled against the Surrey Hills Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. Cyclists, hikers and walkers are spoiled for choice with a network of tracks and trails leading up from the town. It is just a 20-minute drive up to Box Hill – the climax of the cycling road race in the 2012 Olympics.
The leisure and cultural hub of Reigate is the Light complex – with a cinema, a bowling alley, axe throwing and a climbing wall.
Steven Stokes of estate agency Savills describes Redhill as a “family-led housing market driven by those moving away from London”. The key drivers are the transport links, green space and the schools (St Bede’s secondary school is rated outstanding by Ofsted). And it presents better value for money than Reigate, he explains.
There is a four-bedroom detached house for sale in Redhill for £799,950 (White & Sons); a house of a comparable size in Reigate is likely to be above the one million mark.
Locals love: The Outwood Butchers in the neighbouring village of the same name
Buyers settling upon Leighton Buzzard have usually either moved on from, or leapt over, the likes of St Albans, Hemel Hempstead or Aylesbury. With higher interest rates, value for money has become even more pertinent, and so accessible pockets with more affordable homes are busy with buyers.
“The housing market in Leighton Buzzard and the surrounding villages has been extremely buoyant this year, with high levels of activity from first-time buyers and downsizers,” says Caroline Murgatroyd of Hunters.
“Typically, families who buy here are moving out from Watford, St Albans and Harrow, and attracted to the three-tier school system,” she adds – referring to the fact that schools here are split into a lower school (age four to year four), a middle school (years five to year eight) and an upper school (years nine to 11).
In the suburb of Linslade, a semi-detached home can cost around £375,000 or £400,000, and a large, detached period home, within walking distance to Leighton Buzzard train station, starts at £800,000. Murgatroyd cites the villages of Heath, Reach and Stanbridge for those buyers who are happy to drive to the station and want a more rural life.
Locals love: Rushmore Country Park
Buyers from north London normally target Hertford. The market town is known for its Arsenal stars with mansions tucked away down the country lanes.
However, heads are turned once they see how much more they can get for their money in Ware, explains Oliver Babbage of Hamptons.
It is a stop closer to London too. There's a GSK manufacturing plant in Ware, bringing more tenants to rent in the town too, says Babbage.
The small high street with some remaining Tudor buildings is busy with a Ware Country Market on a Friday and cafes that spill out onto the pavement. Ware Priory Lido is heated and open from May to September.
This is golfing country. There's Hanbury Manor golf course, country club and spa on the doorstep, where the Legends Golf Tour will be held again this summer, having featured the likes of Ian Woosnam and Thomas Bjork.
Hamptons is selling a four-bedroom, detached cottage (with planning permission to convert the garage) for £775,000. Predales secondary for girls and the Chauncy school (mixed) are both “outstanding”.
Locals love: Walking and cycling along the River Lea
At first glance, Basingstoke is a functional motorway town (on the M3). But there is plenty to do, with an urban lake, wading pool and boathouse at Eastrop Park, and orchestral performances at the Anvil concert hall and arts centre.
If supermarkets, shops and brands are a marker of desirability, then there's a Waitrose, a Majestic, an Apple Store and a Brewdog.
Trophy homes can be found on Skippets Lane – there's a four-bedroom detached house with a swimming pool for £1,250,00 (McCarthy Holden). Families settling down might look to the villages on the edge of town, such as Old Basing. Head south for unspoilt countryside with a line of pretty villages collectively known as Candover Valley.
“The countryside means you feel further from London than you actually are,” says Jake Civardi of The Buying Solution. “We might not be in the frenzied market of the pandemic but due to the high demand there are plenty of sales and multiple cash bids.”
Civardi and his wife Annabel live in the village of Candover Brown with their three children. Both commute into London. Annabel and her business partner Lisa Gatehouse set up their own PA and events company (Candover Lifestyle Management) last year, running events locally and in the capital.
“We went from London to Dummer [just outside Basingstoke] but we really wanted to be in the Candover Valley, so when a cottage came up for sale in Brown Candover seven years ago, we went for it,” Annabel says.
This is where she met Lisa whose parents had bought a house in the village 43 years ago. Rather than downsize, they invited Lisa and her family to split the house in two and create a multi generational home.
“The house is almost built for it,” says Lisa. There is a kitchen on both sides, five bedrooms on one side and three on the other. Lisa and Annabel love shopping in Winchester and Alresford but the kids love the bowling alley, the water park and the cinema in Basingstoke.
Locals love: The Woolpack in Totford
Ash Vale is overlooked by buyers from south west London who look to move down the expensive A3 corridor. It sits on the edge of Hampshire's garrison town of Aldershot rather than the edge of Surrey's county town Guildford, or the edge of Farnham – with its pretty Georgian centre.
So, the average house price comes in considerably cheaper than the likes of Shackleford and Albury, or Tilford and Rowledge respectively. And yet it is a 14-minute drive to Farnham and 20 minutes to Guildford.
It has a parade rather than a high street but it is well stocked with two pubs, a “good” primary school (as rated by Ofsted) and a cafe at the centre of the village which has been going for 100 years (the Christmas Bakery).
Residents do not need to drive to the Surrey Hills for open space. Ash Vale is surrounded by 2,000 hectares of protected land. Dragonflies skim over the fishing lake at the Lakeside Nature Reserve where there is also a playground.
MacKenzie Smith is selling a large, detached period house with four bedrooms for £750,000 (in need of modernisation) but there are three- and four-bedroom properties for around £600,000 too.
The local conservatives are claiming a regenerative scheme totalling £500m is underway across the area including an overhaul to Aldershot town centre.
Locals love: The Swan pub on Basingstoke Canal
Commuting three to four days a week
Just to the south of the North Wessex Downs National Landscape, and close to Downton Abbey's Highclere estate, is Andover – a market town on the A303 towards Stone Henge.
The town is growing due to peripheral housing developments, and the supply of new homes means prices are lower than in Winchester and Newbury. Picket Twenty to the south eastern side of the town was a housing development which has grown into its own suburb of 1,200 homes with affordable housing and homes for military personnel.
There is plenty of parkland dotted around the town such as Rooksbury Mill Nature Reserve with fishing on Mill Lake. There's a market every Tuesday and Saturday and an artisan market every second Sunday.
In late May every year is the Great Andover Community Duck Race.
“The housing market in these parts is split between town and country,” explains Myddleton & Major's David Smith. What Smith is politely saying is that relocators tend to use the train station to commute to London but when it comes to buying they fan out into the north Hampshire villages.
“The hinterland of Andover comprises many pretty villages in the Test Valley to the south and east and the more rugged landscape of around the Chutes to the north,” says Smith.
He's referring to the collection of villages Upper Chute, Lower Chute, Chute Standen and Chute Cadley.
Property prices in the villages are more expensive than the town, reflecting demand.
“A four-bedroom house in Andover could be £750,000 whereas in a village it could be closer to £1,000,000.” The “Farleigh factor” pulls buyers into the catchment area of the prep school Farleigh in the village of Red Rice.
Locals love: The Greyhound Pub on the Test river in Stockbridge
Nestled in the High Weald National Landscape on the Kent-East Sussex border, and by Ashdown Forest (the home of Winnie the Pooh), is Crowborough.
Andrew Harwood of Strutt & Parker calls it a “sweet spot” for London leavers or upsizers moving out of Tunbridge Wells in search of more house and garden for their money.
The premium roads are the tree-lined Goldsmith Avenue and Glenmore Road on the western side of the town, leading into open countryside and up to Bunker's Hill.
There's a six-bedroom pile on Goldsmith Avenue priced at £1,650,000 (MacKenzie Simpson). Close to the leisure centre to the north of the village centre is a five-bedroom detached house for £775,000 (Mansell McTaggert).
“Prices here are 15pc lower than in Tunbridge Wells – that's what an extra 15 minutes commute saves,” Harwood adds.
At Crowborough Leisure Centre, there's a catalogue of activities from walking football to badminton, swimming lessons and a gym. It sits next to the rec with a running track, pump track, skate park and play park, with a much-needed coffee kiosk (Brew Box) for on-looking parents.
“There is a strong sense of community here,” says Natasha Selkie of Savills. There are three “good” primary schools in the centre and the “good” Beacon Academy secondary school.
Locals love: Black Cat Yoga Studio
Uckfield is on both the A22 that leads to Eastbourne and the coast, and the A26 to Brighton.
“This is a family town, people migrate here in their late 30s with one or two kids in tow, often from Croydon,” says Andrew Passingham of Strutt & Parker.
“These younger buyers want to be in the town so they have all the facilities on hand – train station included. While older buyers look towards the neighbouring villages, such as Buxted or Maresfield, where there are more period properties,” he says.
The “good” Uckfield College is a draw too. It is split almost in two by the River Uck, with the amenities to the north and homes to the south.
There is an independent Picturehouse cinema and a gymnastics club, tennis courts and Oakwood Park Polo Club just to the north. Passingham cites Mallard Drive, in particular Harlands Mews, as a firm favourite as the houses are set around a playfield and the primary school (Harlands) is at the end of the road.
There is a Grade II Georgian house for sale on the high street with four bedrooms for £725,000 (Vince Taylor Tofts).
Locals love: Thai Terre on the high street
The “go to” commuter towns in Essex are Chelmsford and Brentwood, and Bishop’s Stortford in Hertfordshire. They command high house prices as do premium villages such as Stock.
But Braintree – further out and towards Colchester – is growing in popularity as people work from home more.
“The market took off in mid-January and we saw the busiest Saturday for viewings since the stamp duty holiday,” says Mark Lawrinson of Beresfords. He predicts that Braintree has reached that tipping point, the town amenities are improving as more buyers relocate.
“The clues are usually a Waitrose on the high street or a Starbucks,” he explains. A Costa has appeared, there’s a Sainsbury’s and a large Cineworld. There are independent businesses too such as the cafe Toast.
Wealthy buyers head to Notley, a village on the south side of the town. There are trophy homes for sale here – Savills is selling a Georgian pile for £1,300,000. There is better value further in.
Just half a mile from the station, there is a five-bedroom, four-bathroom detached home for £700,000 (via Beresfords) near Marshall Park and by the River Brain which cuts through the town. The Alec Hunter Academy is the local secondary school rated “good”.
Locals love: The independent Turkish restaurant Mosaic
On the edge of the South Downs National Park, between Farnham and Winchester, is the town of Alton.
Its big claim to fame is Jane Austen – the author spent her last eight years in a house, which is open to the public, in the neighbouring village of Chawton.
Every summer, the Jane Austen Regency Week is held across Alton, Chawton and Selbourne.
Other modern-day well-known residents include Alan Titchmarsh and Chariya Khattiyot – the coffee roaster who won Masterchef 2023. She owns the cafe Coffee Cherry in Alton.
There are foodie vibes here – Tuesday is market day and every second Saturday, the town welcomes Hampshire Farmers' Market. The Italian Cucina dei Sapori is popular as are cocktails from Thai Boutique.
There are three supermarkets (Waitrose, Sainsbury's and Aldi), a sports centre, a tennis club and the Padel craze has even landed here. At the centre are two good secondary schools: Havant and South Downs College, and Amery Hill.
There are a wide range of properties and prices in Alton. There is a period house with five bedrooms in an acre and just a mile from the station with a price tag of £1,300,000 and a three-bedroom cottage for £535,000.
“We are starting to see more London buyers who are taking a pragmatic long term view and looking for a sizeable family home for the next 10 to 20 years,” says Hamptons’ Peter Hannginton.
Locals love: Goldfinch Books to buy books and listen to live music
Commuting two to three days a week
Sarah Brass and her husband Handley (both entrepreneurs) moved out of London when their daughter Frankie started nursery seven years ago.
“We had a weekend retreat in Suffolk and used to bundle Frankie into the car every weekend. But we knew we wanted to send her to school in the countryside so we reversed our life,” says Sarah, founder of the vegan hair salon Taylor Taylor.
They bought a dreamy part-Tudor, part-Georgian house in the village of Stonham Aspal and still commute into London several times a week from Stowmarket, which is just five miles away.
The historic market town has a medieval heart around the Church of St Peter and St Mary. The town centre conservation area also includes elegant Georgian architecture – there are 131 listed buildings.
On sale with Exquisite Homes is a Grade II listed, nine-bedroom Georgian property just 0.4 miles from the station for £650,000.
The arts scene is strong. The Regal cinema and theatre shows films, concerts and comedy and the volunteer-led John Peel Centre for Creative Arts hosts poetry readings and dance recitals.
StowFiesta is a music festival held with the rugby club at the end of May and there’s a food and drink festival in July.
There is a string of “good” secondary schools in nearby Ipswich (such as Westbourne Academy). Sarah and Handley are selling their five-bedroom home for £1,500,000 to build a Passivhaus in the area.
Locals love: Film and pizza night at the Food Museum and Petit Pancake for breakfast
Mortgage repayments drop considerably for those buying in Loughborough away from the expensive south east and east of England. But the season ticket prices jump up too.
Between Loughborough, renowned for its sporting university, and Leicester are swathes of green space, including Charnwood Forest known for its craggy peaks and deer parks. Bradgate Park offers 830 acres of parkland and a summer festival in June with artisan stalls and tours of the ruins.
Loughborough itself is well connected (16 minutes to Nottingham by train and 10 to Leicester). It’s bustling with plenty of independent cafes, says PR executive Kathryn Webster, who lives in the nearby village of East Leake.
The mother-of-one likes to visit Bom Bom Patisserie and Peter Pizzeria. There is a five-bedroom, 1930s, detached house on sale for £595,000 between the university, the leisure centre and Loughborough Grammar School – which pulls families with boys to the area.
Loughborough High School is a selective independent secondary school for girls. Sought after villages on the outskirts include Old Dalby.
Locals love: Walks through the Outwoods, ancient woodland
The swell in demand to live in locations where the train commute is over one and a half hours is dependent on the increase in working from home.
“Somewhere like Littleport only works for those people travelling one or two days a week,” says Frances McDonald of Savills.
“We saw a huge increase in activity following the pandemic, as the ripple effect of buyers moving out of London and into the countryside continued,” says Richard Booth of Cheffins. “Littleport represents great value for money for those who only have an occasional commute to London,” he adds.
Of course it works well for those commuting into Cambridge (it takes 27 minutes). The train station is on the edge of the village, so unusually there is not much variation in house price between these roads and the centre.
Just moments from both the station and the Great River Ouse, Cheffins is selling a four-bedroom Victorian detached home for £525,000.
The city of Ely is only 15 minutes away but there’s plenty of choice of places to eat out in Littleport, such as the family-run Spanish restaurant Habis, the Italian La Strega and the cafe Marmalade & Jam.
There is comedy at the village hall and a leisure centre. Secondary school students travel into Ely to attend Ely College (“good”).
Locals love: Walks along the River Cam
Over the last few years, more than half of all buyers purchasing a property in Cheshire’s golden triangle (Wilmslow, Alderney Edge and Prestbury) have come from outside Cheshire, Savills reports.
These outsiders are far less fixated with which side of which end of which street in which village in the golden triangle they want to be, explains Savills’ Andrew Thorpe, and therefore the much cheaper commuter hub of Macclesfield is becoming more of a draw.
The market town offers far more value for money for those selling up in the south and moving north. Dubbed silk town, due to its industrial heritage, and sitting on the foothills of the Peak District, Macclesfield has speedy connections to Manchester and London.
Schools are another draw, there are “outstanding” and “good” secondary schools in the town: All Hallows Catholic College and Fallibroome Academy.
The cobbled streets lead up to the Grade II listed Georgian town hall at its centre and there’s the Picturedrome with exhibition space and an auditorium for gigs and shows and a selection of independent bars and restaurants such as Honest Crust Sourghdough Pizza and Savage Mussels.
Locals love: The Bollin Valley Cycle Trail which starts in Macclesfield Forest
Due to its long-standing appeal, and the race for space during Covid, house prices in the Cotswolds have soared. Over the last decade, property values have risen 116pc (compared to 67pc nationally).
So buyers who can work from home half the week are skipping over this golden area and landing in Worcestershire. With a direct train line into London, Evesham is being discovered.
“The town itself is historically underinvested but more recently this is changing,” says James Way of Knight Frank. “The areas around the river and the high street have seen an influx of independent shops and cafes opening up – in part because the rents are lower than nearby towns,” he adds.
The family-run Brew Bear does click and collect coffee and on the market square is the characterful Red Lion pub, which dates back to the 1700s.
The surrounding orchards mean there is a local emphasis on produce, especially artisan cider. Leeches Cider is made in the Vale of Evesham.
There are plenty of schools in the area including Prince Henry’s High School, an “outstanding” academy (11 – 18).
“The most desirable area is Greenhill, on the north side of the town. It offers attractive, substantial Georgian houses with rolling countryside views,” says Way.
Locals Love: Ellenden Farm Shop in the village of Harvington
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