St Albans named London’s top commuter hotspot

Stevenage came eighth of Zoopla's affordable commuter town countdown. Picture: DANNY LOO (Image: ©2019 Danny Loo Photography - all rights reserved)

The Cathedral city topped Yopa's 2020 London Commuter Guide, which identifies the most affordable and accessible places to live based on a range of economic and quality of life metrics.

St Albans' 21-minute commute to St Pancras, combined with its high number of top performing primary and secondary schools and lower crime rates, helped it edge Redhill in Surrey into second place.

Reading and Luton were next, while Stevenage and Hitchin were in seventh and tenth place respectively.

Jonathan Moss, South East regional director at Yopa, said: "Deciding where to move to can be a difficult decision, so Yopa has launched the 2020 London Commuter Guide to help homeowners easily compare different areas outside of the M25, focusing on the metrics that are most important to them.

"The 2020 guide takes into account common worries such as transport costs, crime rates, commute times, pollution levels and more, so we urge sellers to take a look to see how they can enjoy the best of both worlds - city working and country living."

Stevenage also scored high on a list of the best value London commuter towns.

The SG1 postcode area came in eighth place in Zoopla's countdown of the most affordable places within an hour's travel time of the capital.

Zoopla based its findings on the combined cost of a season ticket and annual average mortgage repayments across a number of local authority areas surrounding London.

Following a 2.7 per cent fare increase for 2020, Stevenage commuters now pay £3,964 for their season tickets.

Combined with average annual mortgage repayments of £12,288 and a typical 36-minute train journey, it offers one of the best value commutes into the capital.

Grays in Essex topped the affordability list, followed by Leagrave in Bedfordshire.