One of the lasting legacies of the COVID-19 pandemic is the prevalence of hybrid, or remote, working practices. This has had a noticeable impact on the property market around large cities like London.

Part of the appeal of a big city are the career opportunities that life in such a place affords you. But what if you only need to go into the office once or twice a week? In this instance, you might justify living further from the city centre, with the Home Counties the popular choice.

It’s for this reason that many Londoners are relocating out of town. And there’s no shortage of great commuter towns which are helping us to get the best of both worlds: the job in the city, without the housing costs to go with it.

The Best Commuter Towns to Consider

So, which commuter towns are worth considering? Let’s look at five of the best.

Woking, Surrey

Woking is around twenty miles from the middle of London. It’s a town with a vibrant history, with Roman and Viking ruins being found nearby. It’s a perfect staging ground for forays into the picturesque Surrey countryside. Moreover, it comes with excellent transport links, with London Waterloo being around half an hour away on the train.

Properties in Woking had an overall average price of £589,064 over the last year. There are are couple more Surrey options slightly further away but more picturesque, including Guildford (average price of £619,949 and 35 mins on train) and Epsom (£609,810 and 35 mins).

Reading, Berkshire

Heading over to Berkshire, we find a town that’s perfectly suited to young professionals, students and families, and with properties an overall average price of just £432,477. It’s a town rich in culture, with a major festival being held here every year. There’s also a major university, and plenty of new-build homes in Reading, too.

 

Beautiful View of the Caversham and River Thames Reading

The Caversham suburb or Reading and River Thames

 

Slough, Berkshire

Slough offers excellent transport links, not just to London, but to the rest of the country, too, thanks to the nearby intersection of the M4, M40 and M25. There are abundant green spaces and listed buildings, meaning that the place has a sense of history. In recent times, it’s found itself singled out for praise as the best place in the UK to get a job.

Unfairly known for it’s location of the UK version of the office, it’s a ideal location with properties an overall average price of £443,465. Other Berkshire options include Maidenhead (an average £550,152) and Marlow (main image) which is lovely but a whopping £889,220 on average.

Luton, Bedfordshire

Luton boasts an impressive multicultural community and an amazing nightlife, as well as a Premier League football club. Every year, it hosts an incredible carnival, which draws tourists from across the country into town. If you’re based in Luton, you’ll also enjoy a short and mostly frictionless commute.

It’s also super affordable, with average property values of £316,380.

St Albans cathedral

St Albans cathedral

St Albans, Hertfordshire

St Albans is mostly famous for being classed as a city, in spite of its having a population of just 80,000 (for comparison, the town of Reading is home to 350,000). Part of the reason for the appeal  is its incredible local architecture, with a sprawling cathedral and numerous other landmarks all adding to the visual appeal of the place. If you want to be surrounded by beauty, in other words, this is a great place to live!

Of course, with the charm comes the average price tag of £634,443. Borehamwood is a closer alternative and cheaper at £560,538, but lacks the same quaint village vibe in all honesty.