The commuter towns where rent and travel costs are squeezing tenant affordability

Leading room share platform, ideal flatmate, has looked at where tenants are paying some of the most unaffordable commuting rental costs based on the ever-increasing cost of traveling by train coupled with the high cost of renting and where has seen the biggest increase in these costs over the last year.

ideal flatmate looked 45 commuter towns and the cost of an annual travelcard when commuting to six major cities, the cost of a year’s rent in these commuter towns, which was home to the highest and which had seen the largest increase over the last year.

The highest currently? Oxford to London, with an annual travelcard costing £5,256 and the annual rent currently £1,366, totaling £21,648. This is despite rents in Oxford having dropped by £432 over the last year, with train tickets up £159 over the same period.

Commuting towns heading into London account for the top five most expensive with Guildford (£20,768), Brighton (£20,468), Cambridge (£19,808) and Woking (£18,816) all home to extensive rental and commuting costs. While rents in Brighton and Guildford have both dropped on a year on year basis, tenants in Cambridge and Woking have not only seen them increase, but also the cost of travel.

Bath is the only commuter town outside of the capital to make the top 10, with the average travelcard into Bristol costing £1,688 and the annual rent sitting at £15,456, totaling £17,144, the highest outside of London by some way.

Looking elsewhere, Harrogate is the most expensive commuter option to Leeds, with an annual total of £11,836. Rugby is the least affordable option when commuting into Birmingham at £11,496, while Macclesfield is the least tenant-friendly option into Manchester at a total cost of £11,460.

Finally, traveling into Liverpool is the most expensive when doing so from Warrington with a total cost of £9,192 when combining commuting and rental costs.

But while these are the most expensive, it is York that has seen the biggest financial squeeze placed on tenants over the last year, with the cost of traveling into Leeds increasing £1,716, largely as a result of a rental increase, although train tickets have also increased.

Canterbury (+£928) and Woking (+£459) have also seen rental affordability for those commuting into London reduce dramatically in the space of a year. Swindon has seen the biggest increase for commuting into Bristol (+£272), New Brighton (+£250) into Liverpool, Rugby (+£186) into Birmingham and Rochdale (+£180) into Manchester.

Co-founder of ideal flatmate, Tom Gatzen, commented:

“For many, the financial burden of renting is made all the worse by the additional costs of traveling to and from their place of work and with travel fares continuing to climb, this squeeze on affordability is only getting worse.

To think that in the space of a year, the combined cost of renting and traveling has increased by as much as a thousand pounds in some places is quite crazy and highlights the tough task facing many of us when it comes to getting by.

The only silver lining is that rent and travel within these major cities would set you back even further.”

Commuter Town/City	Major City	Travel time	Average 2019 Ticket Price	Annual Change	Annual Rent 2019	Annual Change	Total	Total Annual Change
Oxford	London	57mins	£5,256	£159	£16,392	-£432	£21,648	-£273
Guildford	London	37mins	£3,812	£190	£16,956	-£636	£20,768	-£446
Brighton	London	60mins	£4,844	£145	£15,624	-£756	£20,468	-£611
Cambridge	London	53mins	£5,108	£156	£14,700	£12	£19,808	£168
Woking	London	28mins	£3,348	£99	£15,468	£360	£18,816	£459
Bath	Bristol	17mins	£1,688	£51	£15,456	-£384	£17,144	-£333
Milton Keynes	London	35mins	£5,372	£163	£11,712	£108	£17,084	£271
Bracknell	London	55mins	£4,604	£141	£12,252	£144	£16,856	£285
High Wycombe	London	34mins	£3,668	£108	£13,116	-£336	£16,784	-£228
Reading	London	28mins	£4,604	£141	£12,120	-£24	£16,724	£117
Brentwood	London	38mins	£2,756	£83	£13,668	-£108	£16,424	-£25
Canterbury	London	55mins	£5,584	£172	£10,476	£756	£16,060	£928
Crawley	London	40mins	£3,816	£115	£11,880	£84	£15,696	£199
Southampton	London	76mins	£5,880	£178	£9,516	£60	£15,396	£238
Aylesbury	London	59mins	£4,188	£127	£11,016	£156	£15,204	£283
Ashford	London	36mins	£5,544	£165	£9,564	£168	£15,108	£333
Colchester	London	53mins	£5,264	£159	£9,756	£24	£15,020	£183
York	Leeds	23mins	£2,384	£72	£12,408	£1,644	£14,792	£1,716
Slough	London	17mins	£2,712	£81	£11,928	£240	£14,640	£321
Eastbourne	London	90mins	£4,900	£64	£9,264	£204	£14,164	£268
Luton	London	23mins	£4,308	£131	£9,792	-£12	£14,100	£119
Gillingham	London	41mins	£4,252	£125	£9,456	£228	£13,708	£353
Westbury	Bristol	43mins	£2,404	£71	£9,744	-£216	£12,148	-£145
Swindon	Bristol	24mins	£3,556	£104	£8,376	£168	£11,932	£272
Chippenham	Bristol	28mins	£2,128	£60	£9,744	-£216	£11,872	-£156
Harrogate	Leeds	32mins	£1,672	£31	£10,164	£132	£11,836	£163
Rugby	Birmingham	36mins	£3,024	£90	£8,472	£96	£11,496	£186
Macclesfield	Manchester	25mins	£2,628	£55	£8,832	-£228	£11,460	-£173
Burton upon Trent	Birmingham	27mins	£2,954	£86	£7,236	£60	£10,190	£146
Stockport	Manchester	11mins	£924	£25	£8,724	£12	£9,648	£37
Stafford	Birmingham	34mins	£1,928	£55	£7,416	£60	£9,344	£115
Altrincham	Manchester	29mins	£1,072	£28	£8,172	£60	£9,244	£88
Warrington	Liverpool	25mins	£1,596	£30	£7,596	£0	£9,192	£30
Newport (Wales)	Bristol	20mins	£2,696	£77	£6,463	£0	£9,159	£77
Nuneaton	Birmingham	43mins	£2,022	£62	£6,948	£0	£8,970	£62
Kidderminster	Birmingham	39mins	£1,220	£35	£7,188	£132	£8,408	£167
Runcorn	Liverpool	20mins	£1,632	£45	£6,540	£24	£8,172	£69
Southport	Liverpool	45mins	£1,169	£36	£6,936	£204	£8,105	£240
Bolton	Manchester	19mins	£1,052	£28	£6,996	-£60	£8,048	-£32
Widnes	Liverpool	27mins	£1,352	£26	£6,540	£24	£7,892	£50
Huddersfield	Leeds	21mins	£1,408	£36	£6,480	£132	£7,888	£168
Bradford	Leeds	19mins	£1,084	£31	£6,360	-£48	£7,444	-£17
Rochdale	Manchester	20mins	£1,192	£36	£6,180	£144	£7,372	£180
Halifax	Leeds	36mins	£1,168	£33	£6,180	£24	£7,348	£57
New Brighton	Liverpool	21mins	£723	£22	£6,600	£228	£7,323	£250

Sources
Private rent	Gov.uk
Train fare increases	Better Transport
Season tickets	National Rail

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