Leaving London: everything you need to know about living in Chelmsford from house prices and best schools to the commute

The Essex city of Chelmsford is just a 40-minute commute from London, with cheaper house prices, a range of good schools and gorgeous countryside on the doorstep.
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Ruth Bloomfield14 November 2018

Home seekers have been looking in Chelmsford since the Romans ran everything. But it was not until 2012 that it officially became a city, marking the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee.

Great commuter links, top-notch schools, lovely surrounding countryside and well-priced housing have driven generations of London buyers to the “capital” of Essex. And while it is not hip like Brighton or gorgeous to look at like Cambridge, Chelmsford is a convenient, family-friendly option with plenty of potential.

THE COMMUTE

Trains to Liverpool Street take from 37 minutes. An annual season ticket costs from £5,008.

MARKET FORCES

Prices are holding steady, according to the latest UK House Price Index, at an average £331,504, up a nominal 0.7 per cent year on year. Sean Bull, senior property consultant at Beresfords estate agents, says business is particularly slow for flats priced below £300,000.

Changes in tax rules have driven out buy-to-let landlords, who traditionally propped up the lower end of the market, while many local first-time buyers are priced out.

“The middle and upper end of the market are quite strong,” says Bull. “It is price sensitive, and some vendors are still very much under the impression that the market has risen over the last year or 18 months, which it has not. But if a property is priced correctly it will sell.

“A lot of money is still moving out of London, because people cannot afford London prices.”

Five commuter cities less than an hour from London

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HOUSE HUNTING

Buyers are spoilt for choice, with homes ranging from period country piles through roomy Victorian and Arts and Crafts houses, to affordable city centre flats.

Most Londoners want to be within a mile of the station. A two-bedroom new city centre flat is £325,000 to £350,000. A slightly older purpose-built flat would cost about £300,000.

There is a real lack of family housing in central Chelmsford, but in its suburbs, such as Old Moulsham, a four-bedroom Victorian terrace house costs about £550,000.

Buyers looking for a convenient out-of-town property should consider Writtle, a picture-postcard village complete with duck pond, ancient timbered cottages and a good pub.

£425,000: a cute two-bedroom detached cottage in lovely Writtle village with low-maintenance garden and bags of character throughout Beresfords (01245 930 090)

A three-bedroom cottage on the green would cost around £500,000, while a stunning manor house with five bedrooms and a couple of acres in the nearby countryside would come in at £1.3 million to £1.8 million.

Country charm aside, Writtle is a hit with commuters because it is only a couple of miles west of Chelmsford station.

WHAT'S NEW?

Chelmsford city council wants to see 14,000 new homes by 2036, and housebuilders are taking up the challenge. Work is due to start before the end of the year on Taylor Wimpey’s Aspyre, with more than 400 flats and a handful of townhouses on a prime eight-acre city centre site. The first homes are expected to go on sale next year, and the project will complete during 2022. Call 01245 678551 to register an interest.

The biggest player is the giant Beaulieu Park development, just north-east of the city centre. The 604-acre site was once owned by King Henry VIII, and his summer residence, Beaulieu Palace, is being replaced by 3,600 homes, plus shops, offices and an all-through school.

From £749,995: new five-bedroom houses in the latest phase at Beaulieu Park, an ambitious scheme of 3,600 homes just north of Chelmsford town centre (beaulieu.uk.com)

In 2025 this new £1.2 billion neighbourhood will have added commuter appeal when a new station opens with journey times to Liverpool Street of about half an hour. So far more than 350 homes have been built and the first residents moved in during 2015. The entire project will take 15 to 20 years to complete. Prices start at £244,995 for a one-bedroom flat at Beaulieu Oaks, with five-bedroom houses from £749,995 (beaulieu.uk.com).

In the city centre the Grade II-listed Georgian Old Judge’s Quarters, facing Chelmsford Cathedral, has been converted into boutique flats. A two-bedroom flat is for sale with Fenn Wright, with a £360,000 guide price.

UPSIDES

This city is great for families, boasting excellent schools, first-rate sports facilities —from diving to ice skating and everything in between — and loads of lovely Essex countryside on the doorstep. Glorious Hylands Park is a worthy stand-in for a London Royal Park, with almost 600 acres landscaped by the 18th-century master Humphry Repton. Stansted airport is 20 minutes’ drive away.

Wonderful wildflowers: the Big Sky Meadow at RHS Garden Hyde Hall near Chelmsford
Alamy Stock Photo

DOWNSIDES

Chelmsford’s pedestrianised high street is useful but uninspired, stuffed with chain shops and predictable restaurants — though the new Bond Street shopping centre has a good range, led by John Lewis, plus an Everyman Cinema.

Chelmsford has some smashing period properties in the suburbs but there are also an awful lot of dreary estate houses. Many of the new developments in the city are car-free, making parking a horror, while resale of these homes could be challenging, warns Beresfords’ Sean Bull. And if there are problems on the A12, which bypasses the city, local traffic comes to a standstill.

SCHOOLS

With an “outstanding” Ofsted rating, King Edward VI Grammar School and Chelmsford County High School for Girls are vastly oversubscribed. Most local primary schools have “good” reports from Ofsted, though a handful “require improvement”, says the schools watchdog — so parents of young ones will need to be careful about catchment areas.