Maidenhead tops the list of commuter town appreciation

Maidenhead has topped the table in a list of commuter towns and cities where property prices are rising faster than those in London.

That’s the finding of new research by buying agents Garrington Property Finders, which identified the Home Counties’ top 10 hot spots, ranking the areas and property types that have seen the fastest price increases, and calculating how much an average home in each will have risen in value during the past year.

The study, using Land Registry data, revealed price rises in Home Counties areas easily outstripped those in the capital, where the average price rise was 11% per year.

Top of the table was Maidenhead, where detached homes have piled on £91,131 in a year – enough for two-and-a-half years of fees at nearby Eton College.

Other areas to fare well were Brentwood in Essex (average rise of £64,289), Canterbury in Kent (£35,899) and Hertford (£83,553).

Jonathan Hopper, managing director of Garrington Property Finders, said: “Every year tens of thousands of Londoners move out of the capital to the surrounding commuter belt, driven by a desire for better value, more space and a wider choice of schools.

“But in addition to the usual shopping list for would-be commuters – good transport links, good schools and so on – many buyers will also have one eye on the potential for price growth when choosing a location.

“Our research shows just how ‘hot’ some of the Home Counties hot spots have become, with price rises outstripping those in London.

“The combination of both better value and better rates of capital appreciation is a compelling one, but the picture across the commuter belt is very mixed – and buyers need expert intelligence to identify the areas with the greatest potential.”