This week one of the investors I have met at the Luton PIN (Property Investors Network) where I present the Lettings Update to landlords and investors asked me if Dunstable was a location where commuters to London would look for rental property ? By coincidence it was the day after one of the staff from the local Travel Choices shop had dropped off some useful information packs for us to distribute to Landlords and Tenants.
I have previously promoted the new Dunstable-Luton Busway which opened in 2013 allowing commuters to travel between the 2 towns in 10-15 minutes. You can access these articles via these links – October 2013 article & May 2013 article
In fact the information Travel Choices gave me shows that the commute from Dunstable to London using the Busway is under 45 minutes and the cost of using the Busway if you add PLUS BUS to your Thameslink ticket is £1.11 per day. Using the Car Park at either Luton rail station would cost between £5 – £7 per day. The busway also opens up easy rail connections to Bedford, Gatwick, Brighton, Leicester, Derby, East Midlands Airport, Sheffield, Leeds and York, as well as Eurostar services to the continent.
I previously worked for a top London Architectural Practice in London for 21 years and for 6 of those years I lived in Tottenham in North London. My commute time to work in Primrose Hill or Camden Town was usually over 1 hour each way. I moved out of London and used the train to commute in to work and my commute time reduced and my quality of life increased.
Therefore my answer to him from experience and having talked to some of our tenants who do travel to London is that the Busway now makes it an easy commute if you wish to use the train and might be part of the reason there is a shortage of rental properties in Dunstable at this time as tenants in London realise how affordable and commutable it is.
This has now opened our landlords eyes to the growing potential of Dunstable as an investment and we are now working with him to find some well-priced investment properties.
