The cheapest place to buy a house in Surrey at the start of 2024 has hidden gem green spaces, good schools, major road links, and train connections to London that take less than an hour. It is because of this that prospective buyers who look outside of key towns like Woking and Guildford are rewarded with value-for-money homes and a good lifestyle.
That is according to local experts at Bridges Estate Agents. They told SurreyLive the villages of Ash and Ash Vale in the GU12 postcode have established themselves as attractive to families who have stayed in the area for decades as well as newcomers brought in by newbuilds and regeneration.
Sales manager, Ben Granville, grew up in the area and lauded it as value for money, a fantastic place to bring up kids, and somewhere people want to stay. He also hailed the variety of accessible green spaces nearby and connections to major road and rail links on the doorstep as massive draws.
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“It’s one of those areas, it’s very much a community,” he said. “Value for money is definitely something you get here. You can have a good period of sustainability here and enjoy a good lifestyle.”
The GU12 postcode for Ash and Ash Vale was recently found to be the area in Surrey with the cheapest property prices in the year to the end of January 2024. This is based on analysis of Land Registry figures that compared averages across 66 postcodes in the county.
The area covers a patch of Surrey’s western border between Farnham and Camberley and follows the line of the Basingstoke Canal and the A331. It also includes a patch of Hampshire to the east of Aldershot town centre.
Mr Granville continued: “The [Ash] Ranges are massive here because you’ve got thousands of acres and, when the Army isn’t shooting, the Ranges are all open. So, you can walk from Ash all the way over to Pirbright.
“You can have a walk without having to cross any roads, it’s completely open. Loads of people enjoy doing all sorts of things up there, dog walking, jogging, just walking, there’s so much on offer.
“And obviously you’ve got the Basingstoke Canal. These things are an absolutely massive, massive plus for the area. When people discover them, it’s one of those - they’re hidden gems. You don’t understand how great it is to have those right there.”
Houses in GU12 were shown to have sold for an average of £379,000 in the year to the end of January 2024. Surrey’s most expensive postcode, KT11 for Cobham meanwhile, saw properties sell for an average that was more than a million pounds dearer at nearly £1.4m. The county’s average house price stood at £658,000.
GU12 was also found to be one of Surrey’s most popular areas for buyers with the eighth-highest number of sales recorded at 287. The data showed a total of more than 12,000 transactions were completed in Surrey in the same period.
Mr Granville added that both Ash and Ash Vale have stations off the South West Main Line with rail routes that whisk passengers to London in less than an hour. He then highlighted the “major arterial roads” of the M3 and A31 can be reached from either village in as little as 10 minutes.
He said: “All these people who start looking in Woking and realise what they’re going to get for their money, they then start going out a bit further and discover that Ash and Ash Vale have both got train stations and both have excellent value for money.”
GU19 for Bagshot and TW15 for Ashford ranked as Surrey’s next cheapest areas with homes exchanging hands for an average of £428,000 and £431,000 respectively. TS1 for Middlesborough town centre in North Yorkshire was the cheapest overall postcode in England and Wales with an average price of £69,000.
The average home in England and Wales cost £361,000 in the 12 months to February which was nearly half the Surrey average and down from £369,000 or 2.2 per cent when compared to the year to February 2023. GU12 prices were down £13,000 on the 2023 average.
The GU25 postcode for Virginia Water and Wentworth had the largest drop in Surrey of 46.4 per cent with homes now costing an average of £1.3 million, down from £2.4 million at the same time the year before. The GU20 postcode for Windlesham had the next largest fall at 23.3 per cent to £633,000
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