Most affordable commuter towns for five UK cities revealed

https://www.theguardian.com/money/2020/jan/06/most-affordable-commuter-towns-five-uk-cities-revealed

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Property website Zoopla ranks Grays in Essex as best-value location within hour of London

The most affordable towns for people commuting into London, Bristol, Birmingham, Manchester and Edinburgh have been revealed.

With rail fares rising for many commuters, the property website Zoopla combined season ticket and mortgage costs to work out the best-value locations for those looking to live within an hour’s travel time of the five cities.

Grays in Essex topped the list for London with a combined annual cost of £15,008 for a mortgage and season ticket, ahead of Leagrave in Bedfordshire (£15,399).

Elsewhere, Wolverhampton (£7,483) was the most affordable option for Birmingham, with Cannock second (£7,933). Hindley (£6,883) topped the list for Manchester, ahead of Wigan (£6,887). Dunfermline (£7,530) was the most cost-effective choice for Edinburgh, with Falkirk just behind (£7,553).

People travelling into Bristol were advised to cross the border into Wales, where Newport offered the best value, with a combined rail travel and mortgage cost of £10,166. Highbridge, in Somerset, was second (£11,595).

Laura Howard, a consumer expert at Zoopla, said: “The past decade has seen significant property price growth in prime London commuter belt towns, but despite this, our analysis still picks out pockets across south-east England that represent affordable value for commuters.

“Areas outside London and the south-east are generally more affordable, but commuters can still save money on their daily travel into the likes of Birmingham and Bristol by looking at towns they might not have yet considered, but still have good transport links.”

The research made assumptions about typical mortgage costs, which were based on someone having a two- or three-bedroom home and a 15% deposit. Travel times and 2020 annual railcard costs were taken from the National Rail enquiries website.