The most affordable London commuter towns of 2019 have been revealed with Ebbsfleet, Pitsea, Laindon and Luton all making it in to the top 20.
The new list, which takes into account house prices, mortgage payments and rail season ticket costs across more than 300 towns within a 75-minute journey of central London, comes as rail fares are hiked up by 3.1 per cent across the UK, adding significant cost to those commuting from the outer edges of London’s commuter belt.
Taking today’s price hikes into consideration, the number one spot goes to Apsley in Hertfordshire, a historic industrial site situated in a valley of the Chiltern Hills.
Putting a roof over your head and getting to work and back in Apsley costs the average person £1,139 a month.
Taking second place is the town of Ebbsfleet in Kent, which offers a particularly short commute to London and back – just 36 minutes – while average property prices are also low, at just ￡243,000.
In third place is the town of Tilbury in Essex, which benefits from a reasonably priced annual season ticket, at ￡2,448, or ￡204 a month.
Ishaan Malhi, founder and CEO of online mortgage broker, Trussle, commented: “House prices in London are unaffordable for a lot of people, so it’s little wonder that so many workers choose to commute from areas where they can get more for their money. This often comes at the price of hefty rail fares, and with the rise in transport costs, it’s important homeowners are taking this into consideration as they look to move house.”
| Rank | Town | Average property price | Average monthly mortgage payment | Monthly cost of rail season ticket | Total commuting time | Cost of commute if time was valued | Total monthly cost |
| 1 | Apsley | ￡228,030 | ￡835 | ￡303.67 | 52 | ￡327.60 | ￡1,466 |
| 2 | Ebbsfleet | ￡242,623 | ￡888 | ￡401.33 | 36 | ￡226.80 | ￡1,516 |
| 3 | Tilbury | ￡240,487 | ￡880 | ￡204.00 | 83 | ￡522.90 | ￡1,607 |
| 4 | Basildon | ￡270,347 | ￡990 | ￡245.00 | 68 | ￡428.40 | ￡1,663 |
| 5 | Pitsea | ￡241,878 | ￡885 | ￡256.67 | 84 | ￡529.20 | ￡1,671 |
| 6 | Laindon | ￡274,714 | ￡1,006 | ￡245.00 | 68 | ￡428.40 | ￡1,679 |
| 7 | Luton | ￡265,575 | ￡972 | ￡359.00 | 57 | ￡359.10 | ￡1,690 |
| 8 | Rainham (Essex) | ￡327,725 | ￡1,200 | ￡164.67 | 52 | ￡327.60 | ￡1,692 |
| 9 | Earlswood | ￡251,029 | ￡919 | ￡237.00 | 88 | ￡554.40 | ￡1,710 |
| 10 | Sudbury | ￡308,174 | ￡1,128 | ￡439.33 | 24 | ￡151.20 | ￡1,719 |
| 11 | St Mary Cray | ￡313,225 | ￡1,147 | ￡173.33 | 65 | ￡409.50 | ￡1,730 |
| 12 | Stevenage | ￡316,998 | ￡1,160 | ￡321.33 | 45 | ￡283.50 | ￡1,765 |
| 13 | Gravesend | ￡323,621 | ￡1,185 | ￡297.67 | 45 | ￡283.50 | ￡1,766 |
| 14 | Leagrave | ￡254,497 | ￡932 | ￡359.00 | 79 | ￡497.70 | ￡1,789 |
| 15 | Northfleet | ￡265,037 | ￡970 | ￡269.00 | 88 | ￡554.40 | ￡1,793 |
| 16 | Strood | ￡255,184 | ￡934 | ￡444.33 | 69 | ￡434.70 | ￡1,813 |
| 17 | Grays | ￡313,700 | ￡1,148 | ￡204.00 | 74 | ￡466.20 | ￡1,818 |
| 18 | Chatham | ￡250,689 | ￡918 | ￡446.67 | 77 | ￡485.10 | ￡1,850 |
| 19 | Harlow | ￡323,588 | ￡1,185 | ￡287.33 | 64 | ￡403.20 | ￡1,876 |
| 20 | Slough | ￡394,399 | ￡1,444 | ￡226.00 | 33 | ￡207.90 |
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Pic: mattbuck, licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic license.
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