TfL Tube map...for homebuyers: how much you need to earn to buy near every London Tube, Overground and DLR station
Living near a Tube station is the holy grail of London living — but not all Tube stops are created equal when it comes to affordability.
A new report has looked at how much buyers will need to earn to get a mortgage on an average property close to each of London’s Underground, Overground and DLR stops.
The data identifies the cheapest and most expensive pockets of the city that are connected to the rail network.
Only four stations are accessible to buyers earning the UK average wage of £22,400. The most affordable stops to live near are Redbridge and Newbury Park where first-time buyers will need to earn £17,400 to buy a home.
Both stations are in Zone 4 on the Central line, 29 and 34 minutes from central London respectively, and are now served by the night Tube.
Buyers earning £17,600 could buy on the Piccadilly line in Oakwood, north London, while the District line stop of Upney in east London requires an average wage of £22,300 to live near.
The findings are based on the median price of a one-bedroom home within one kilometre of each station, assuming the buyer has a 10 per cent deposit and will spend 40 per cent of their net earnings on mortgage repayments over 25 years.
Based on these calculations, eight of the ten cheapest stations to buy a property near are in east London and can be found on either the Central or District lines.
Nurses, firefighters and teachers on an average salary of just over £28,000 can afford to live near just two per cent of London stations, while Theresa May and Sadiq Khan – who earn £153,000 and £143,000 respectively – can buy close to 92 per cent of stops, according to the figures from Totally Money.
With an average salary of £16,000, sales assistants are priced out of buying a home on the Tube map altogether.
“While our map can help prospective buyers find affordable areas in London, what our research shows is that, even if you can save enough for the deposit, your options are even more limited than you might suspect,” said Mark Moloney at Totally Money.
“What’s more, the research considers one-bedroom properties only, meaning those with families or those hoping to start a family will have even fewer options available to them.”
At the other end of the scale, the most expensive Tube stop to buy near is Knightsbridge on the Piccadilly line, where buyers need an average salary of £248,600.
All ten of the most expensive Tube stations to buy near are in central London and are out of reach of both the Prime Minister and the Mayor of London if they were using just their government salaries to buy.