By Mark Hughes-morgan
Kent is moving closer to London. Not through some seismic geological shift, but thanks to the new high-speed train connection to London.
The Javelin, the long-promised bullet-train-style service being run by Southeastern Trains from the coast to London at speeds of up to 140mph, has reduced the times from key commuter towns such as Ashford (from around 80 minutes to 37 minutes), Canterbury (109 to 62 minutes) and Ramsgate (two hours to 85 minutes).
The towns and nearby villages are increasingly worth considering for commuters - or simply those who fancy being within reach of London, as well as within a couple of hours of Paris via the Eurostar.
A full service will start from December, but already the volume of inquiries from those looking to move into the region is putting a smile on the faces of local estate agents. ‘I am getting calls every day in connection with the high-speed link,’ says Nigel Maclean, of Calcutt Maclean Wood, a long-established independent estate agents with several offices in the area.
There has already been an encouraging rise in lettings from people who want to check out rural Kent before buying, says Maclean.
He predicts that areas around Canterbury and Ashford will be comparable to Winchester in popularity.
‘Suddenly an area that has been historically less expensive will gain added “stockbroker appeal”, he says.
Calcutt Maclean Wood has a house at Elham - in the pretty Elham valley - with five bedrooms, four receptions, a separate cottage, stabling, outbuildings and four acres, for £1.1 million. According to Maclean, a similar property with one acre, located six miles outside Winchester, is on the market at £1.85m.
‘The areas that are going to benefit most are those within half an hour of Ashford,’ says Maclean, as well as those close to Faversham and Canterbury - and the coastal towns of Ramsgate, Folkestone and Dover.
For Edward Church, of Strutt & Parker in Canterbury, the dark horse is Ebbsfleet, now 15 minutes out of London, which will take traffic from the traditionally less-fancied north and north-east Kent as well as being a cheaper option for commuters from further afield.
‘For many people, it will make sense to drive the first part of the journey to Ebbsfleet, park there and then get the train. It is a fantastic station - more like an airport,’ says Church.
The area of Kent that has always been considered most desirable is east of Maidstone, between the M20 and M2 and on the stunning North Downs, with pretty villages such as Sheldwich and Chilham and, further south, Wye, Hastingleigh and Elham.
South of Ashford, you come to the Weald, with some of the most charming villages in England, such as Tenterden.
However, these are too far from Ashford for it to make any difference to commutability.
There is healthy competition for village properties at the right price and viewing figures are up dramatically due to short supply.
‘We are selling properties, but not necessarily replacing them,’ says Maclean.
The rakish MP and diarist Alan Clark lived at Saltwood Castle in Saltwood, 12 miles east of Ashford, and would have appreciated the fast Ashford connection (the train from Sandling to Ashford takes about 15 minutes).
A Twenties house with five double bedrooms and three receptions, in about two acres with a tennis court on the edge of the village, is on the market for £875,000 (with Calcutt Maclean Wood).
While the villages close to Ashford are doing good business, it is important not to get too carried away with Ashford itself, according to one local agent - who preferred not be named.
‘Ashford has always been a working town. It still has quite a way to go. A lot of people will want to stay closer to London rather than paying thousands more a year to get in. I don’t think there is going to be an instant price hike.’
Rail prices have already been highlighted as a potential disadvantage, however, with annual season tickets at £4,536 from Ashford (the same as Canterbury) and peak day returns around £55.
There has been a great deal of money spent on the town in the past five years, particularly on landscaping and reorganising the area around the ring road, and prices in and around Ashford have picked up slightly in the past year, he says.
But it is very much dependent on the type of property. A three-bed semi on an estate needs to be keenly priced - there is plenty of competition.
But an unimproved cottage nearby with a couple of acres will have gone up appreciably more.
Ramsgate is a different proposition altogether, with some impressive Regency and Victorian properties - from around £350,000 for a good-sized family home of three to four bedrooms - in a seaside town that is seeing a lot of new development and regeneration.
But for now, the focus for those moving further out of London seems to be those pretty villages of the North Downs.
Nasir Ahammad, director of an IT company, and his wife Valerie, both in their 30s, are soon to exchange on a home in Wye, which is one stop and six minutes from Ashford.
They and their two children now live in a mews house in South Kensington, Central London.
‘We’d been flirting with Chiswick and Barnes - which is the next logical step up,’ says Ahammad.
When, in June, they heard about the Javelin train service, they decided it was worth looking further afield. Now they are due to exchange on a Grade II-listed, four-bedroom detached house in the village ‘for the price of a mansion flat’ (it was on the market at £469,500).
‘It would take just as long to get to work from Chiswick,’ says Ahammad, whose office is in Oxford Circus.
With a village primary school rated ‘outstanding’, vibrant local community and stunning countryside, he thinks they’ve made the right decision.
There weren’t many properties in their bracket, and until they saw the Wye property they were going to rent to see whether country life appealed.
Whether or not he has a bargain is harder to gauge. ‘I think there has been a certain amount of appreciation already,’ says Ahammad.
‘But we are very happy to have jumped up the property ladder. Rather than live somewhere for only the next five years, we are going to be in the same house for the next 20. And we’re really looking forward to it.’
Source: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/
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