New life in the 'belt': new build homes in regenerated commuter belt towns offer potential for above-average price growth to young professionals

Though it might not seem like it, London does not have a monopoly on regeneration zones.

Out in the commuter belt, from Berkshire and Buckinghamshire in the west and north to Kent in the east, billions of pounds are being funnelled into towns, with great transport links to London and — if the regeneration projects do their jobs — the potential for above-average price growth.

But be warned, regeneration commuter style is a very different beast to its big city counterpart.

WELCOME TO "LEGO LAND"

The most obvious variation is in style. Forget starchitect landmark buildings, soaring skyscrapers and carefully curated cafés and restaurants that the best London schemes offer.

“In central London you can expect high-end retail, high-end housing priced towards an overseas or buy-to-let market, and the hopes of strong price appreciation,” says James Hyman, head of residential at estate agents Cluttons.

Beyond greater London the bad news is that the architecture tends towards what Hyman accurately describes as “Lego land”. New shops and restaurants will be mid-range and predictable — individual design and imaginative architecture is quite low on the agenda.

“You could be in Chatham, Kent, or Dewsbury, Yorkshire,” says Hyman. “You have got the same developers going in and the same sort of retailer.”

The good news is that pricing tends to be geared not towards international billionaires but young professional couples on average wages who need a house rather than a starter flat.

And while London’s new-build market has, over the past decade, experienced some scarily sharp ups and downs, Hyman believes that beyond the capital slow and steady could win the race.

“I think the growth will be more gentle but it will be more stable, because people buying a four-bedroom house are taking a 10 to 15-year view,” he says. “As an area matures it becomes more appealing, perhaps to a different sort of demographic, and prices rise.”

CHATHAM, KENT

On the banks of the River Medway, Chatham was once an important strategic location for the Royal Navy and a thriving port. The town was dealt a body blow by the closure of its port in the Eighties. It is now a slightly forlorn town. The high street has become shabby, and Chatham’s reputation is dreary. However, it is getting back on its feet thanks to £2 billion of investment.

New facilities and homes, together with high-speed train links to London, good schools and some quality period housing stock make it a good bet for buyers looking for a location on the up.

Already complete is Chatham Maritime, the £1.5 billion rejuvenation of the historic dockside with more than 2,000 homes, a university campus, shopping centre, leisure facilities and a 500-berth marina.

Next up for Chatham is developer Peel’s Chatham Waters scheme (chathamwaters.co.uk), which aims to replicate the firm’s successes in places such as Salford Quays — once the moribund Manchester Docks.

Award-winning Horsted Park is a new “village” a mile-and-a-half from Chatham station. The current phase, The Lamberhurst, has four-bedroom townhouses — looking like a line of boathouses — for sale at £415,000. Help to Buy is available at the site, with a minimum deposit of £20,750.

For first-time buyers, housing association L&Q will launch two-, three- and four-bedroom flats and houses at Capstone Green. The properties will go on sale later this year, and pricing is to be announced.

If being close to the station is a priority, Chatham’s town centre conservation area has some magnificent Georgian properties at a fraction of London prices. Mann estate agents is selling a four-bedroom Georgian townhouse with a guide price of £300,000 to £320,000, although it does need modernisation. A two-bedroom period terrace house in the same area would be about £200,000.

Top schools: this being Kent, there is plenty of choice, with parents keen to get kids into either Chatham Grammar School for Girls or Chatham Grammar School for Boys.

The commute: trains from Chatham to St Pancras International take from 40 minutes. An annual season ticket costs from £4,028.

BRACKNELL, BERKSHIRE

Few will mourn the passing of the old Bracknell town centre, built postwar and one of the abominations of the era. A £240 million project to create a “one million square foot shopping and leisure centre” is planned in its place, and in September its centrepiece is being opened.

The Lexicon will have 70 new shops and restaurants, the dispiriting high street is being given a face lift, and The Bull, the landmark town centre pub, is being renovated.

The shops already signed up — Marks & Spencer, Superdry, Office — give a hint of the kind of market The Lexicon is aiming at, and there will also be a 12-screen cinema.

Bracknell’s potential has not escaped the eye of developers, with a series of new town centre schemes on offer. The Quarters, from Redrow Homes, is well located within walking distance of both the town centre and the wilds of Bracknell Forest. Two-bedroom flats start from £284,950.

New homes in Bracknell are dominated by flats aimed at young professionals, with open-plan kitchen/living rooms and one or two bedrooms. Buyers who want a house could head for one of the surrounding villages, where there are some gorgeous, if rather more expensive, country houses. In Binfield, a Grade II-listed Georgian house on a private estate is for sale through Romans estate agents for £1,325,000.

In Bracknell itself the choice is a lot more limited. There are post-war homes built as the town expanded, and some more modern executive houses that are good value but display little in the way of character. A four-bedroom detached house at the Bloor Homes Wykery Copse development, with a lovely location beside Bracknell’s country park, is on the market for offers in excess of £550,000 with Prospect Estate Agency.

Expect to pay about £350,000 to £400,000 for a three-bedroom semi — post-war or in the handful of Victorian streets in town.

Top schools: the town has a worrying number of failing schools but is saved by St Joseph’s Catholic Primary School and Ranelagh School, which shine with “outstanding” ratings from Ofsted.

The commute: 55 minutes to Paddington, one hour and two minutes to Waterloo. An annual season ticket costs from £3,652.

MILTON KEYNES, BUCKINGHAMSHIRE

The land of the concrete cow was officially launched as a new town, 45 miles north-west of London, half a century ago. The 34-acre model town of Milton Keynes engulfed about 18 existing villages and today comfortably exceeds its target population of 250,000.

With its grid of streets and emphasis on green space, Milton Keynes is a far more successful example of town planning than poor Bracknell and although critics find it bland, it has a well-resourced town centre and plenty to do, from seeing a band at the National Bowl to catching some jazz at The Stables, trying your hand at the Xscape indoor ski slope or seeing an exhibition at the MK Gallery.

Yet Milton Keynes remains a work in progress, with major developments of new homes around its fringes. At Broughton, east of the centre and close to the M1, Taylor Wimpey is selling starter houses and family homes at Warwick Green.

The location, by Willen Lakeside Park, is rural and rather nice. The downsides are the distance from the station —about four miles — and the architecture. Developers perfectly capable of stylish and contemporary work in London, too often revert to red-brick boxes for projects beyond the M25. Taylor Wimpey is far from alone in this.

Inside, however, the two-bedroom “coach houses” priced at £255,000, and five-bedroom detached houses priced at £525,000, with stamp duty paid, are good value and have the kind of light, contemporary-neutral interiors that many new-build buyers love. Visit Taylor Wimpey.

Meanwhile, David Wilson Homes has just launched the first tranche at its Fairfields development, close to Stony Stratford, one of the original Milton Keynes villages, which has against all odds managed to keep the feel of a country village. Prices run from £171,896 for one bedroom flats to £345,995 for three bedroom houses.

If you want to walk no more than 10 minutes to the station, you are mainly restricted to flats. Orchards Estate Agents has a smart two-bedroom flat, with the selling point of a big, private roof terrace, in Rillaton Walk, listed with a guide price of £250,000.

Top schools: standards are pretty high across the board in Milton Keynes. St Thomas Aquinas Catholic Primary School and Caroline Haslett Primary School hold “outstanding” Ofsted reports, as do Oakgrove School and St Paul’s Catholic School, both for seniors.

The commute: trains from Milton Keynes Central station into Euston take from 34 minutes in rush hour, with an annual season ticket priced from £4,904.