Press Article
LONDON LITE - Wednesday 5 December, 2007
No commute? It needn’t be a dream
Why people are moving back into town
By Jessie Hewitson
EVER wondered where your cash goes? If you take the Tube to work, it is likely a significant portion of your pay packet goes on travel: London is the most expensive transport capital in the world.
Our average monthly Tube fare is £89.10. A weekly overground rail ticket from Ashford, Kent, to London will be £86.50 from January more than £4,000 a year. Add that to mortgage repayments instead and you could afford property worth £80,000 more. So, if you had a £220,000 two-bed house in Ashford and worked in the West End, you could move to Euston and downsize to a one-bedroom flat for £300,000 and walk to work — for no extra monthly outlay.
It’s little wonder London estate agents are noticing more clients moving house to be closer to work and avoid those long journeys.
“I’ve seen a steady increase in people wanting to live close to where they work as London traffic gets worse,” says Ed Mead, of Douglas & Gordon estate agency. “I’m the classic example: I’ve moved to within 50 yards of my office. It’s all about quality of life; it’s a trade-off well worth making.
“It’s expensive, but there are savings on travel and congestion charges, though from October next year resident discounts for the congestion zone will no longer apply.”
Zita West, 48, a fertility expert, used to live in Banbury, Oxfordshire but now her home is on Oxford Street, a 10-minute walk to her work in Harley Street.
“The commute from Banbury took an hour-and-a-half. I’d be up at 5.15am for the 6.07am train, which cost £50 a day,” she says.
“It was pretty depressing, especially in winter. My energy levels have been much better since I don’t have to get up so early.”
Her lifestyle now couldn’t be more different. “I love living in central London. I walk everywhere, so I’m much fitter. I don’t use the Tube or taxis, so I’ve saved myself thousands on transport costs.”
Mortgages and rental costs are, of course, higher the more centrally you live in London, but that hasn’t put off Philip Jackson, 31, and partner Peter Nichols, 29. They moved four months ago from Clapham to a one-bedroom flat in St Martin’s Lane, Covent Garden, to be nearer their jobs in Soho. They pay £1,500 a month on rent, and believe it’s worth every penny.
Peter, who runs PR and marketing firm Beyond, says: “We both worked in Soho and we go out in the West End, but we had to do this commute in and out of the centre.
“We thought, ‘This is ridiculous, we’re both earning a decent salary, we should move to central London’. “The rent isn’t much more than outside central London, and we’ve got back an hour a day because we’re not commuting. Also, we see our friends a lot more around here.”
Jo Eccles, director of Sourcing Property, a property search agency (think Phil and Kirstie from Location, Location, Location) says more clients than ever want to live closer to their work.
“Clients often have one criterion for their search: an easy commute. It used to be people wanted to live on the Jubilee Line if they worked in Canary Wharf, for example, but recently they want to be even closer, often in walking distance. One client grew sick of London and moved to the country, but then felt so miserable being stuck out in the sticks and with her awful train and Tube journey she decided to move back to central London to be closer to her work and friends.
“Trains can cost a fortune, and half the time they’re late. Lots of people are thinking, ‘Why spend loads of money when the service often isn’t working?’ My clients increasingly prefer to have a lovely central flat and lifestyle rather than a hugely expensive season ticket.”