The most affordable London commuter towns of 2019 have been revealed in a list created by online mortgage broker Trussle.
By analysing house prices, mortgage payments and rail season ticket costs across more than 300 towns within a 75-minute journey of central London, Trussle has produced a rank of the 20 leading commuting hotspots, while also disclosing the 10 least affordable locations.
The new list comes as rail fares are hiked up by 3.1 per cent across the UK, adding significant cost to those commuting from the outer edges of London's commuter belt, in some cases by more than £200 a year.
Taking today's (January 2) price hikes into consideration, the number one spot goes to Apsley in Hertfordshire, a historic industrial site situated in a valley of the Chiltern Hills.
To put a roof over your head and get to work and back in Apsley costs the average person £1,139 a month.
Rank | Town | Average property price | Average monthly mortgage payment[4] | Monthly cost of rail season ticket | Total commuting time | Cost of commute if time was valued | Total monthly cost |
1 | Apsley | ￡228,030 | ￡835 | ￡303.67 | 52 | ￡327.60 | ￡1,466 |
2 | Ebbsfleet | ￡242,623 | ￡888 | ￡401.33 | 36 | ￡226.80 | ￡1,516 |
3 | Tilbury | ￡240,487 | ￡880 | ￡204.00 | 83 | ￡522.90 | ￡1,607 |
4 | Basildon | ￡270,347 | ￡990 | ￡245.00 | 68 | ￡428.40 | ￡1,663 |
5 | Pitsea | ￡241,878 | ￡885 | ￡256.67 | 84 | ￡529.20 | ￡1,671 |
6 | Laindon | ￡274,714 | ￡1,006 | ￡245.00 | 68 | ￡428.40 | ￡1,679 |
7 | Luton | ￡265,575 | ￡972 | ￡359.00 | 57 | ￡359.10 | ￡1,690 |
8 | Rainham (Essex) | ￡327,725 | ￡1,200 | ￡164.67 | 52 | ￡327.60 | ￡1,692 |
9 | Earlswood | ￡251,029 | ￡919 | ￡237.00 | 88 | ￡554.40 | ￡1,710 |
10 | Sudbury | ￡308,174 | ￡1,128 | ￡439.33 | 24 | ￡151.20 | ￡1,719 |
While some towns actually came in slightly cheaper, in assessing the merit of each, Trussle also considers the duration of the total commute by calculating the monetary value of this time using the average London wage.
This helped Apsley clinch top spot, with its relatively short total commute of 52 minutes in total each day priced at ￡327 a month – giving it a total of ￡1,446.
Taking second place is the town of Ebbsfleet in Kent, which offers a particularly short commute to London and back – just 36 minutes – while average property prices are also low, at just ￡243,000.
In third place is the town of Tilbury in Essex, which benefits from a reasonably priced annual season ticket, at ￡2,448, or ￡204 a month.
Trussle also lists the 10 least affordable commuter towns, with Oxshott rock-bottom thanks to an average property price of ￡1.7million. V
irginia Water is the second least affordable location on the list, due to an average property price of ￡1.2m and a hefty 87-minute daily commute to and from London Waterloo.
Ishaan Malhi, founder and chief executive of online mortgage broker, Trussle, said: "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 is important homeowners are taking this into consideration as they look to move house."
emma.hughes@ft.com
