London Housing Shortage -Long distance commuters push up prices elsewhere

HAMISH_MCTAVISH

Interesting article in the FT showing the scale of the housing shortage in London/South East, and supply and demand in action as long distance London commuters are now driving up prices much further afield than they used to.

There are now almost 800,000 long distance London commuters coming in from other parts of the country, rather than just the outskirts of London.

London’s strong housing market is pushing up prices in other parts of the country as workers commute increasingly long distances in search of cheaper housing.

A growing number of people are becoming “work tourists”, moving further out of London while continuing to commute to their jobs in the capital, according to an analysis of census data by Savills for the FT.

Areas with more London workers have seen larger house price rises, Savills found.

Lucian Cook, residential research director at Savills, said London commuters were having an impact on house prices in the areas they moved to.

“A much larger number of housing markets are now underpinned by London earnings and by people moving their housing wealth out of London,” he said.

“People are having to accept a longer commute, because they get more for their money and they’re sacrificing weekday quality of life to benefit their family.”

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/2a3f2e50-1996-11e4-8730-00144feabdc0.html#ixzz39L6egY1Z

michaels

If anyone is looking I can do a 4 bed detached, corner plot with huge scope STPP, good road, Recent Offsted excellent schools, 1 mile from station with 20 minute trains to St Pancras / 35 mins to London Bridge for 700k....

HAMISH_MCTAVISH

michaels wrote: »

If anyone is looking I can do a ....

The same house in the regions could be 200K.

Half a million pounds buys a lot of commuting.....;)

PasturesNew

michaels wrote: »

If anyone is looking I can do a ....

... speculative punt I got stuck with

michaels

HAMISH_MCTAVISH wrote: »

The same house in the regions could be 200K.

Half a million pounds buys a lot of commuting.....;)

On the other hand same house with worse schools in Zone 2 with a longer commute (once crossrail opens Canary Wharf door to door will be about an hour) could cost 2 mil.....

PasturesNew

£200k wouldn't buy you that house where I live. A 4 bed, detached, house, starts at £365k. The median price is £795k. 21 for sale. Highest price is £1.25mill.

.... which is why I've got a 2 up 2 down

HAMISH_MCTAVISH

And in an attempt to drag this thread back on topic, I am actually surprised the number of long distance commuters is that large.

I mean, we all know London has a staggering shortage of housing, but the best part of a million people commuting from elsewhere in the UK?

Article notes the biggest growth is commuters from the Midlands.

lisyloo

I am actually surprised the number of long distance commuters is that large.

A number of my colleagues do long commutes BUT we only have to be in the office twice a week.
Might this explain it? i.e. it's doable if you're not having to do it everyday?

PasturesNew

HAMISH_MCTAVISH wrote: »

And in an attempt to drag this thread back on topic, I am actually surprised the number of long distance commuters is that large.

I mean, we all know London has a staggering shortage of housing, but the best part of a million people commuting from elsewhere in the UK?

Article notes the biggest growth is commuters from the Midlands.

You really need to see what was asked/answered. e.g. there's been a lot of Kirstie/Phil programmes where people have moved out to the country AND bought a studio/1-bed in London, so they commute weekly.

Many won't be daily commuters. They'll be weekly ones. People weekly commute all over the place - I used to do it for a 400 mile round trip.

vivatifosi

They aren't talking about the Midlands though Hamish. They are talking about Watford, Slough, the Medway towns and so on. They've always been commuter towns, but now they are even more so.

Tbh, the price of commuting from round here is expensive, but I can't see why anyone would buy a house at the end of the Jub line and commute on a non-air conditioned tube train. Why would you want to stop everywhere every three minutes or so when you could get a train in with a couple of stops and be at the office in about 30 minutes.

lisyloo

people have moved out to the country AND bought a studio/1-bed in London, so they commute weekly.

Exactly what we are doing (well renting to start with)
That way we get the best of both worlds and don't have to give up our nice/big house. Commuting weekly isn't too bad.
Getting a small place in Crydon would be a massive compromise and worst of all worlds.

michaels place doens't sound too bad but you have to consider door-to-door which would be more like 20 (walk) +5+ (wait) + 35 (train) +15 (tube) +15 (walk) = 90 so not the same as having your blot hole in zone 1.

Some people will be commuting daily, but the longer commuters will be doing it weekly or for some days only or staynig up with friends/hotels some nights.

Many of my husbands colleagues stay in homes with people they know (I presume they pay but it's friends rather than hotels).