Longer Commute - Lower House Prices

SailorSam

I hate the thought of spending hours standing in a train, or in the car in a traffic jam, but and i say this not really knowing London ( except for the way to Wembley), if i had the choice between buying a flat in a built up area or for the same price, a nice semi with a decent garden, i think i may be buying a train ticket.

whathavewedone

I think it depends where you are in your life. If you're single or not planning children in the near future then you're probably better off staying in London as it's easier to go out for a few drinks after work etc.

Once you have kids though you have to factor in other things besides the cost of mortgage v transport costs. Good state schools in London are pretty few and far between but move out to Surrey or Kent for example and depending which specific areas you pick you could be spoilt for choice.

I also don't know where you get your figures from but the cost of a 4 bedroom period house in a nice part of London will cost you an awful lot more than a similar house in somewhere like Tunbridge Wells where such houses went for approximately 450k-500k in the peak. One of my friends bought a 3 bedroom Georgian house in Islington in 2007 - price £950k. They can walk to work though. But they are planning children and won't be able to afford to pay school fees and live there even if they both keep their jobs.

sarah_elton

joolsybools wrote: »

I used to commute to London from Chelmsford. 3 hours a day of misery on the commute but I moved to London a year ago. I spend exactly the same on rent and travel as I did before, just in different proportions. In fact, I've recently started to cycle to work (not every day) but I literally go past Queenies house. Very nice it is too!

I know which type of commute I'd rather do! :0)

Three hours a day? Chelmsford to Liverpool Street is 30 mins so you must have then been getting the tube right over to the other side of London. I commute from Witham (on the same line as Chelmsford) and work a five minute walk from Liverpool Street so my commute is an hour door to door. I don't look at jobs outside the City as I won't do the tube on top of the mainline.

Going back to OP, I'm not sure on the exact finances. In the town where I am now, a four bed detached house would cost in the region of £250k and the commute is £330 a month.

In London, I imagine I'd have to be in zones 4-6 to get a four bed detached(?) and then the commute would take, what, at least half an hour anyway? And at a complete guess, I'd imagine paying about £400-500k for the same house. Surely the extra mortgage payment on that would exceed my commute cost?

There's also a quality of life aspect to it (well, depending on what you like doing in your spare time). Next year, OH and I are planning to move further away from London. The price of a family house will be about the same (£250k ish), commute will go up to about £4000 a year, but we'll be near the coast, surrounded by friendly people and nice views. I've no doubt you do get that in certain areas of London, but again it'd be a trek from the centre and again, I imagine house prices to be pretty horrendous.

ukcarper

The reason I originally moved 20 miles further out of London was that I couldn’t get a big enough mortgage to afford a house where I was but with the same size mortgage I could where I moved to.

chewmylegoff

wobblegobble wrote: »

Thanks for all replies. Not factoring the length of commute etc into this, just want to look at it from a pure financial perspective. Higher house prices, higher borrowing accepted Tom but if you can afford the higher borrowing then surely there is no problem? Better paying off a higher value asset than wasting it on transport costs?

well obviously it's up to you what you look at - but how much is an extra hour in bed and an extra hour at home in the evening worth to you? personally i'd want to see at least £1k more in my take home pay each month before i surrendered those two hours.

shirlgirl2004

We live in a small village near Chelmsford. OH commute is 1 hour door to door. 10 minutes to the station. 35 minutes on the train. 10-15 minute walk the other end. He usually travels outside of rush-hour. Season ticket is £3k. We live in a large 4 bed detached in a beautiful location. I don't think you'd be able to find something similar in the centre of London and TBH if you end up getting the tube and walking the time could end up the same. A zone 1-2 annual tube card costs £1k so it doesn't leave much for you to add to the cost of the mortgage.

To be honest it isn't about the money though. This site is moneysavingexpert.com but Martin does point out it isn't about what is cheapest but what is the best deal. For us the best deal is to live in a nice house in a beautiful area with excellent schools. We have children and IMO London is not a nice place to bring up children. Some things are more important than money.

stevetodd

wobblegobble wrote: »

This might qualify for one of the duh! questions of the year but just scared I might be missing something :rolleyes:

Constantly hearing about people moving out of London etc and commuting in from areas where house prices are cheaper. I can understand the social/quality of life aspects of this but is there any actual financial benefit to this?

I am assuming therefore that for example £300 per month more on a mortgage on a property in a more expensive area is better than spending that £300 on transport costs? In the end all being equal you end up with a more valuable asset (interest on the mortage notwithstanding, you are still paying off some capital out of the £300?)

If this is correct then apart from the non financial factors there is no financial benefit to buying somewhere cheaper and spending the difference on commuting costs?

I think what you are missing is that money isn't everything! I moved out of London 3.5 years ago and my quality of life increased many fold. I chose to stop working so I don't have to commute so I suppose that takes away the disadvantage. But my friends moved out because they were wanted to have children, be nearer the coutryside, friendly people, live in a better property and live in a more relaxed atmosphere

vivatifosi

I agree Steve. I commuted into London for 10 years then drove round the M25 to Heathrow every day for another 12. Never again, no matter what salary I'm offered.

Actually, I do wonder whether there may be another dimension to this: working from home has been technologically possible for a long period, but essentially that period has always been relatively benign economically. I wonder if, now you can be monitored from home for PC productivity, whether companies will look to reduce their office costs and send people home. Of course, this could also be one of those issues that is technologically possible (like the paperless office), but will never fly, who knows?

JayScottGreenspan

I think what normally swings it is how many people in the household work. Two people commuting into London costs a fortune whereas just one and the commuting is a bit less soul-destroyingly-expensive.

Mr_Matey

I still don't understand why trains/tubes are so expensive in the UK.

It's a *lot* cheaper for me and OH to drive places than get the train. Now that we have a car, I wouldn't consider taking public transport to travel to other cities/towns.

The tube I do get, but I need to for work.