Where to buy a family home in London 2019: best areas to upsize to a new house or period home with good schools and train links

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Ruth Bloomfield24 April 2019

The series of spring bank holidays are a great time for aspiring upsizers to research where to make their next move.

Why not combine your search for your perfect family home with a day trip or two to explore some of the further flung spots offering good value larger houses near top schools and green space?

Here's where to add to your watchlist.

Stratford: the east London spot for new houses

Of the 6,600 new homes currently listed on Rightmove, just 440 are houses. And of those only 161 are priced at less than £1m.

Happily at the Olympic Park homes for families are being built, at comparatively affordable prices.

At Chobham Manor, one of the five new neighbourhoods which will be created on the site of the 2012 games, Taylor Wimpey has a selection of town houses and mews houses priced from £790,000 for a three bedroom terraced house with a private garden and carport.

Four-bedroom houses are priced from £840,000.

Chobham Manor is close to the park’s playground and wetland park making it a great option for families, while Stratford Station (Zone 2), with its multiple train links, is a short walk away.

A new school, Bobby Moore Academy, opened last year/2018 to serve Chobham Manor.

Totteridge: boutique new houses in the 'burbs

Out in the burbs Totteridge Place, by Crest Nicholson is a boutique development of terraced houses close to one of London’s most affluent villages.

Three-bedroom houses are priced from £829,950.

The houses are set around a central landscaped garden, and are within an easy walk of Totteridge & Whetstone Station (Northern Line, Zone 4).

Totteridge sits on the cusp of London’s northern Green Belt, and there’s plenty of open space around led by Totteridge Common while Whetstone has plenty of shops and cafes, a Waitrose, and some smart gastropubs.

The area ticks the education box. St John’s CofE Primary School and Alma Primary both get “good” ratings from Ofsted, as does the local senior school, Finchley Catholic High School.

Ascot: look outside London for new family homes

There’s a desperate lack of new family houses being built in London, which means getting out beyond the M25.

In affluent Ascot, the red-brick houses at Brompton Gardens are set in mature woodland, and are within walking distance of Ascot High Street.

The Chilterns and the Surrey Hills are near, as is Windsor for a bigger range of shops and restaurants than slightly staid Ascot can offer.

Trains to Waterloo take just over an hour, and local schools are high-performing. Three-bedroom houses start at £795,000.

After trying and failing to find a London family home to suit them, Heather and Philip Dean decided Ascot was a better bet.

The Deans are heading to Ascot: Merylisse, nine, Philip, 49, Heather, 46 and Daniel, 11 will move next year

Early next year the family will move to a £1.4 million four-bedroom house at Berkeley Homes’ Brompton Gardens development.

The choice was driven by the great schools in the area and the children are now enrolled at The Licensed Victuallers’ School.

“Living opposite one of the country’s best schools is excellent as the children will be able to attend the many extracurricular activities that are on our doorstep,” says Heather, a personal trainer.

By moving to Ascot the couple could afford to buy a house large enough for Heather to be able to run her personal training business from home, while Philip, chief financial officer of a wealth management firm, will have a fast commute to his London office. They also liked their new home’s woodland setting.

“We like the balance of being in a town while being surrounded by nature,” adds Heather.

Surbiton: for flats and period homes

Super-suburb Surbiton is a dark horse. It’s virtually in Surrey and way out in Zone 6, but the train links are brilliant, with fast services to Waterloo in just under 20 minutes.

And its far-flung location means prices are appealing for upsizers.

“South-west Londoners can swap their one- or two-bedroom flat and be able to trade up to a Victorian cottage in Surbiton for £500,000,” says Karl Matier of Savills Esher.

“If they’re after something bigger, a semi-detached Thirties property in good condition could be picked up for £800,000 to £1.2 million depending on its size.”

There is a nice cluster of shops, including a Waitrose, good café culture, a weekend farmers’ market, and a weekend walk beside the Thames is lovely.

The shops, restaurants, and bars of Kingston upon Thames are just up the road.

Crucially for the family market, Surbiton’s schools are fabulous: St Andrew’s and St Mark’s CofE Junior School and Tolworth Infant and Nursery School both get top marks from Ofsted, while the selective Tiffin School in Kingston is one of the best-performing UK senior schools, and there are no sink schools to avoid.

Tring, Hertfordshire: for the Commuter

Tring, a small market town sitting in a gap passing through the Chiltern Hills in Hertfordshire, has everything families look for in a location. Its schools, the key driver out of the capital, are excellent and this good-looking little gem is within the catchment area of the grammar schools of Aylesbury.

Commuter links are speedy: services take just 37 minutes to Euston. The local Chilterns countryside is simply spectacular and studded with golf courses, riding stables and lovely walks.

While not exactly hip, Tring has a lovely high street with a good range of nice cafés and restaurants, and plenty of shops. St Albans, which is much more expensive to live in, is close by for a wider range of options. Tring homes start at about £600,000 for a four-bedroom family house.