Top 10 Places To Live Outside Of London

Published: 25/09/2018

We all love London as a brilliant, buzzing city - but in terms of raising kids, it isn’t always the best choice.

Financially, it can be crippling for many families to balance a good quality of life with often extortionate private school fees, while the best state schools are difficult to get into, for those living in the capital.

It’s not so surprising then that, as each year passes, more and more families are deciding to leave the big city in favour of a simpler way of life for the children.

Families are searching for more affordable commuter towns - where kids can be in a catchment area for great schools that are less competitive to get into while mum and dad may still travel to the city for work - outside of buzzy London town.

A Santander Mortgages report recently found that three in 10 people with children aged four and over were considering moving in the next two years to ensure they lived within their preferred school’s catchment area.

That’s a lot of people fleeing the capital - and it’s no wonder!

In London, if you want to live within a 10-minute walk of an “outstanding” state primary school, you’ll typically pay 20% more for a property than others in the same area.

However, if the stats presented in this report by Santander materialise, there could be a similar price increase in other parts of the country too. According to research by Dataloft, across England and Wales that move could mean paying an average 17.8 per cent premium over the usual price in the wider area.

The message then is clear - if you are consider a move for the future of your family (or your future family!) the time to buy is… RIGHT NOW!

But where exactly are all these families moving to? These are the hottest London commuter towns, with properties on the market, at this very moment...

• St Albans, Herts

  10 outstanding schools, 19 minutes commute from London, average house price of £585,429

• Farnborough, Hampshire

  7 outstanding schools, 38 minutes commute from London, average house price of £338,275

• Harpenden, Herts

  6 outstanding schools, 23 minutes commute from London, average house price of £778,642

• Epsom, Surrey

  6 outstanding schools, 37 minutes commute from London, average house price of £517,378

• Shenfield, Essex

  4 outstanding schools, 29 minutes commute from London, average house price of £585,909

• Milton Keynes, Bucks

  4 outstanding schools, 37 minutes commute from London, average house price of £275,641

• Reading, Berks

  4 outstanding schools, 27 minutes commute from London, average house price of £323,404

• Fleet, Hampshire

  4 outstanding schools, 44 minutes commute from London, average house price of £415,272

• Wolverton, Bucks

  4 outstanding schools, 49 minutes commute from London, average house price of £238,357

• Maidenhead, Berks

  4 outstanding schools, 24 minutes commute from London, average house price of £238,357

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Content correct at time of publication.