Each minute closer to London adds £3,048 to average property price: Study
04 Apr 2016
Average property prices within half an hour's train ride from London are lower at £458,000, as against £606,000 in inner London, reveals a research on property prices around 314 stations in places surrounding the capital on direct commuter lines into the city.
According to the research by by Savills estate agents, housing cost was down sharply to £337,000 for journeys of one hour to 69 minutes, with the saving averaging £3,048 per minute, the study of Land Registry data found.
In Buckinghamshire which was within 29 minutes of central London by train, the average property price was £1,010,000. It dropped to £929,000 for Sunningdale in Berkshire, which was nearly an hour away, and then by about a third for Great Shelford, near Cambridge, which was just over an hour away, to £622,000.
The correlation between distance and price was not even and the average property in Oxford, with its university, culture and second homes for City types, cost £730,000 for a 57-minute commute. While it took only 21 minutes to travel from the new town of Welwyn Garden City, which had only a few attractions to rival Oxford's, the average price was £430,000.
The study concluded that for each minute less spent on the train into central London, buyers would need to shell out an additional £3,048 to secure the property.
According to the survey, the most expensive place to buy at the furthest reasonable distance from the city - said to be 60 to 69 minutes commute - was close to Shelford Station in Cambridge with the average house price there being £622,451.
By way of contrast houses at Southend Central in Essex - which was also only over an hour from London - tended to sell for around £188,000, suggesting buyers paid not just for journey time but location too.
However, as one moved just 10 minutes closer to the city, costs skyrocketed.
Those who wanted the quickest commutes to central London, consider Oxshott, Surrey, from where the train takes between half an hour and 39 minutes, with home prices averaging £1.45.