To ask where young families are moving to when leaving London?

[Yellowstickynote]

DH and I live in SW London and absolutely love it. So much access to green spaces, wonderful bars & restaurants on our doorstep and so many friends in the area. Sadly, we own a 2 bed flat without lift access. We need more space, and heart is set on 3 house w/ garden, which is out of our budget if we remain in SW London.

We have Hybrid jobs (in office 1-2 days per week), so need good commuting links in to London (any London station is fine as can work from multiple offices). Most importantly, we want to move to a vibrant area which has plenty of things to do for young couples in their 30s, both with children and without. E.g. we love being near to green spaces and going to wine bars and restaurants. Some of the areas we’ve visited are lovely but so quiet and a much older crowd. We’d love to move somewhere that’s full of other young couples/families where we can make friends in the area.

Any recommendations welcome! Our budget isn’t the highest - don’t want to spend over 750k if we can help it.

Hilarious you think £750k isn't a high budget. But everyone I know has moved to Brighton/Lewes/Worthing areas.

I live in one of the areas you mention and £750K isn't a massive budget to accommodate what the OP is looking for. However, you should be able to get something half decent for that OP.

You could still live in London on that budget.... you'd just have to move to a less fashionable part. You can easily get a nice house in SE London for 750k

I really wish it wasn’t the case, but having looked at property prices in so many popular commuter towns we can get very little for our money!

I mean basically anywhere just outside the M25. I know the north side better and St Albans might fit the bill..trains into London Bridge.

A lot of these commuter towns just outside of London are actually not much cheaper than London.

Brighton would certainly for the bill. Beautiful South Downs on your doorstep, tons to do, art, festivals, theatre, gigs, great restaurants. The crowd is definitely not old. Hove, Patcham, Withdean more families.
And you have the sea!

I have friends in St Albans , they seem happy there and it's a gorgeous place.

St Albans looks lovely but not within our budget for a house within 1 mile of the station really 😑

We left London altogether (including relocating our jobs), and now live in Bristol/Bath area, which is perfect. Only 1hr15 Bath to Paddington as well. But our firends who stayed are in SE London or Kent and Surrey (Tonbridge/Sevenoaks/Reigate type areas).

Most people don’t live within 1 mile of the station! They drive in. That’s why station car parks are so big outside of London, and so full.

If you are in Brighton you can get the bus to the station, but in smaller towns and villages with less frequent bus services, you will just drive everywhere.

Deal in Kent? I know a few families who moved out that way.
Not sure that budget will get you more than a terraced in a good location for the trains but it’s really pretty when I’ve visited.

Will take a look, thanks!

Our friends moved to Cambridge, Oxfordshire, Suffolk and Brighton. We moved to Leicestershire, which I don't recommend.

You can definitely get a house in Worthing for far less than 750k. We lived there 5-6 years ago and it was where all the young Brighton families used to move. I imagine it has come a long way since then. We loved it. Lived 2 minutes walk from the beach and 7 minutes walk to East Worthing station and 15 minutes walk to Worthing "Proper". Train to London takes just under an hour.
40 min cycle to Brighton along the coastal path or 20 min train journey for a fiver.

Windsor?

I'd stay in London. Whereabouts in the SW are you at the moment? You can get a 3 bed house with garden and easy access to wine bars and green space etc within your budget if you look somewhere like Tooting. Plus you'll be much closer to your friends and not paying a fortune to commute.

So do I, and we spent just over half of that to get a 3-bed house with a garden.

It depends where you work if you need to commute to London.
There is a feature on Rightmove where you can set some condition like radius, proximity to train station to london, etc, and it tells you were you can live! I found it really useful when we were looking to move a few years ago.

Most people with families in my company have left Central London, and live in Brighton, Reading area (some as far as Oxford but that's only possible because we work in west London), Welwyn garden city is also quite popular...

Lots of people I know have moved to Ramsgate, Margate and Broadstairs. Sandy beaches and a high speed train to London.

We are in Balham. We haven’t seen anything decent in the Balham/Tooting area in our budget unfortunately!

When was that?

Faversham in Kent is just over an hour to St Pancras. Cafe culture, historic buildings and good schools. You can get a five bedroom detached for your budget.

Leigh on Sea?

Look Sutton/cheam/epsom way. Really good transport links, close to London, excellent schools and near to loads of parks etc l.
Also close to Kingston, Wimbledon etc