Milton Keynes among the top 10 fastest-growing commuter towns in the UK

    Milton Keynes has been ranked the eighth fastest-growing UK commuter town during the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a new report by card payment provider Dojo.

    With a high number of businesses embracing home-working and reducing the number of days required in the office, many city workers are willing to live further away from their place of work and relocate to neighbouring towns. 

    New research by Dojo, has analysed UK commuter towns and their nearby cities to reveal which have prospered the most from January 2020 to March 2021. To investigate this, Dojo gathered data on the following 5 indicators of each location:

    Property market  - The change in property prices and number of sales in the area
    Job vacancies - The number of job openings in the area
    Salaries - The average wage of employees
    Footfall - The transit station, workplace and residential movement detected on Google Maps

    Each data point was then scored and compared to the previous year to discover the percentage increase in growth for towns and cities across the UK. The final rankings are as follows:

    Ranking

    Name

    Population

     %Change

    1

    Exeter

    131,405

    17.94%

    2

    Eastbourne

    103,745

    15.88%

    3

    Worthing

    110,570

    4.62%

    4

    Norwich

    140,573

    4.53%

    5

    Oxford

    152,457

    4.22%

    6

    Cambridge

    124,798

    2.96%

    7

    Rochdale

    222,412

    2.36%

    8

    Milton Keynes

    269,457

    1.62%

    9

    Slough

    149,539

    0.53%

    10

    Crawley

    112,409

    0.24%

    Milton Keynes ranks as the 8th fastest growing commuter town, increasing by 1.62% during the pandemic. Milton Keynes offers many people the ideal out-of-London solution, for those wanting to get out of the busy city with its quick and direct transport routes.

    In January 2021 the average house price was £267,299.47, this is a 3.71% increase from the previous year. This however is over half the price of a house in London, averaging at £501,320.07. 

    Housing isn't the only factor to increase. Job opportunities also blossomed despite the pandemic, rising by 47.96% from 3,265 to 4,831 open vacancies from April 2020 to March 2021. The average salary in the area also increased by 13.46% during this time.

    Jon Knott, Head of Customer Insights at Dojo commented: "During the course of the coronavirus pandemic, the interest in commuter towns has seen a substantial increase. 

    "With working from home here to stay and less time needing to be spent in the office, many city dwellers have decided to relocate from built up urban areas. Despite a longer commute time when venturing into the office, the benefits of generally cheaper and more spacious properties in commuter towns has attracted many to these areas. 

    "Despite fluctuations and instability, the coronavirus pandemic has brought growth to new businesses and has helped consumers appreciate the value of independent businesses. With more people now choosing commuter towns as their place of work and leisure, small businesses in the area will enjoy an uptick in footfall.

    "Now lockdown is easing, businesses could be set to boom from customers determined to make the most of rediscovered freedoms."

    To see the full report, you can visit the campaign page for more detail by clicking here.

    Sponsored Stories

     

    Local News

    Weather

    • Fri

      12°C

    • Sat

      13°C

    • Sun

      13°C

    • Mon

      11°C

    • Tue

      12°C