Train fares 'eat into savings' from moving from London
Commuters living in Oxford could find life even more expensive than in London Some commuters who move to cheaper accommodation outside London may not be saving as much as they think.
New research suggests that around half of such savings are immediately eaten into by the cost of train fares, which rose by an average of 2.8% last week.
Allowing for the cost of a season ticket, some areas can even be more expensive to live in than London itself.
But other towns provide an average cost advantage of over £8,000 a year.
The research, by the estate agency Haart, suggested commuters moving to Oxford or Cambridge will find the cost of a season ticket more than outweighs the benefits of cheaper housing.
The analysis of 14 commuter hotspots suggests that, on average, people save £10,779 a year by moving out of London, but then spend £5,160 a year on train fares.
Thus, a London commuter moving to Cambridge may save £3,730 a year on the cost of a mortgage but will now pay £4,160 on a season ticket, leaving them £430 out of pocket.
Someone moving to Oxford will fare even worse, ending up more than £2,000 a year worse off.
Oxford has relatively high property prices.
Bargain locationsOn the other hand, commuters can make considerable savings by moving to less expensive locations, such as Southend in Essex, Southampton, or Grantham in Lincolnshire.
The average price of a house in Southend is less than half that in London.
After taking into account the cost of an annual season ticket, commuters can save themselves more than £8,600 a year by living on the Essex coast.
The same is true of Southampton, although travellers will have to spend more than an hour on the train to Waterloo.
The cost of commuting itself can also be offputting. The latest fare rises mean the price of an annual season ticket from Dover to London has gone through the £5,000 barrier for the first time.
"For a couple who both live regionally, the annual cost of travelling in to London could mount up to £10,000," Haart chief executive Paul Smith said.
How much does commuting save you? | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Town | Av regional property price | Av London price | Annual mortgage saving | Cost of season ticket | Average annual saving |
| source: Rightmove/ ONS/ National Rail. Mortgage based on 5% repayment | |||||
| Southend | £200,193 | £437,000 | £11,840 | £3,236 | £8,604 |
| Southampton | £178,822 | £437,000 | £12,908 | £4,308 | £8,600 |
| Grantham | £136,513 | £437,000 | £15,024 | £6,760 | £8,264 |
| Aylesbury | £203,678 | £437,000 | £11,666 | £3,732 | £7,934 |
| Colchester | £186,854 | £437,000 | £12,507 | £4,680 | £7,827 |
| Rugby | £174,611 | £437,000 | £13,119 | £5,440 | £7,679 |
| Milton Keynes | £202,609 | £437,000 | £11,720 | £4,772 | £6,948 |
| Farnborough | £229,373 | £437,000 | £10,381 | £3,568 | £6,813 |
| Swindon | £162,733 | £437,000 | £13,713 | £8,000 | £5,713 |
| Reading | £246,676 | £437,000 | £9,516 | £4,088 | £5,428 |
| Norwich | £179,994 | £437,000 | £12,850 | £7,480 | £5,370 |
| Leamington Spa | £249,255 | £437,000 | £9,387 | £7,344 | £2,043 |
| Cambridge | £362,387 | £437,000 | £3,730 | £4,160 | - £430 |
| Oxford | £386,191 | £437,000 | £2,540 | £4,672 | - £2,132 |
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