Classic Property Investment - premiums for homes near stations

As the trend for working from home slowly diminishes, so there has been a return of the premiums for homes near railways stations.

This has long been a classic property investment tip - to buy a home near a commuter link.

According to new research form the estate agent eXp UK, near the top 20 stations it costs an average of 122 per cent more to buy property. 

The average house price across the top 20 busiest stations in the nation comes in at £478,016.

Many of the best rated train stations are in London, which serves to pull up the average sold price. Indeed, 15 of the 20 best stations are in the capital, with the priciest being London Fenchurch Street (£1.62m), and the cheapest being Barking (£329,000).

There are exceptions to London’s dominance however. Moorfields in Liverpool is by far the cheapest region with a strong railway service, where property is priced at £108,000, followed by Glasgow Central, at £177,000, and Norwich, at £208,000.

The station with the worst score for punctuality and cancellations is Manchester Oxford Road, where 11 per cent of trains are cancelled and many more are delayed. Living in that part of Manchester costs £236,000. 

Living in a wealthy area doesn’t guarantee a strong train service, as Bath Spa commands an average price of £457,000, the least affordable on the list of worst performers, while also having a performance score of 76 per cent - one of the worst in the study.

Head of eXp UK, Adam Day, comments: “It may be tricky to afford to buy property in expensive areas of the UK, but our research suggests that digging deep could provide homebuyers with amore reliable commute. That’s especially the case in London, where stations outperform much of the rest of the UK in terms of cancellations and delays. 

“Seeing as the capital acts as something of a hub of the UK, where many journeys start and end, maybe it’s not surprising that London sets the standards when it comes to reliability. Not that every area fits that trend, as Glasgow, Norwich, as well as Moorfields in Liverpool, all prove that it’s possible to have a reliable commuter service in an area where house prices are relatively affordable.”