With house prices expected to rise after the General Election, canny buyers are looking farther afield for their next hot investment.
Value for money is an elusive concept in the property world. Town A may be less expensive than Town B, but with good reason. The schools are less good, the shops are poorer and the broadband connection is slower. But you do not have to go far to find areas which offer value for money, yet have no obvious snags attached. Or there might be snags, but those snags are about to disappear.
Properties in some towns might be undervalued simply because the transport connections are not great, but new rail links are going to change that. Or perhaps the housing stock is tired and run-down – but there are major new developments in the pipeline.
So which areas in the UK are currently offering the best value for money? Great places to buy because, a few years down the line, you will be sitting pretty?
In London, some of the best value for money is to be found in areas such as Earl’s Court and Elephant & Castle, both of which are undergoing major regeneration. The average Earl’s Court property prices are half those in South Kensington, which is walking distance away.
Further out, suburbs such as Acton and Perivale, Eltham and Colliers Wood, Brockley and Beckton, all offer good value. Partly, one suspects, because they have never had the misfortune to be fashionable and sought-after.
Outside the capital, you tend to find the best value at the outer fringes of the commuter belt. Prices fall, sometimes quite sharply, the longer the commuter time. But there are exceptions that prove the rule: towns close to good commuter routes where prices have not gone berserk as a result. The train to London from Banbury, for example, is quicker than the train from Oxford, but house prices are appreciably lower, making Banbury much more affordable than the Dreaming Spires.
‘On the Northamptonshire side of Banbury, you can get nice three-bedroom family homes for around £350,000,’ says Matthew Allen of Fisher German. ‘We have seen a big influx of commuters attracted by the competitive prices.’
Another commuter town offering great value for money, considering its accessibility from London, is Maidenhead. The average property price is just over £400,000, less than half that in trendy Bray, just a few miles away. Horsham in West Sussex (average property price: £322,000) and Gillingham in Kent (£187,000) are also good bets.
All over the country, there are areas which have a lot going for them, but have never suffered from rampant house price inflation. A prime example is Worcestershire, where you get far more bang for your buck than in the Cotswolds or in the Warwickshire commuter belt. Worcester itself is an elegant cathedral city, yet the average property price, £192,000, compares very well with Cheltenham, where it is £266,000.
Derbyshire is another county offering outstanding value, which is why it is attracting savvy commuters to Manchester and Sheffield. At Chapel-en-le-Frith, a small town on the edge of the Peak District National Park, the average house price is £182,000. You would pay more than double that in the best suburbs of Manchester.
‘We certainly attract price-conscious buyers, who could not afford family homes in towns closer to the motorway, such as Alderley Edge,’ explains Lorraine Brooks of Sutherland Reay.
In Wales, Caerphilly is looking particularly attractive at the moment. The average property price is just £135,000 compared with £220,000 in Cardiff, but it is less than half an hour from the Welsh capital by train. Not bad for a town of character in pretty surroundings.
Clearly, there is value for money out there. It is just a question of researching different areas and doing a little lateral thinking.
Check-out these properties currently listing at OnTheMarket.com for £250,000 or less:
Eltham https://www.onthemarket.com/details/765354/
Colliers Wood https://www.onthemarket.com/details/513811/
Banbury https://www.onthemarket.com/details/907686/
Maidenhead https://www.onthemarket.com/details/514788/
Rainham https://www.onthemarket.com/details/1178643/
Kidderminster https://www.onthemarket.com/details/693362/
Chapel-en-le-Frith https://www.onthemarket.com/details/878825/
Caerphilly https://www.onthemarket.com/details/1105127/
