Access to cycle routes increasingly sought after by property buyers

Back in 2009, we reported that cycling facilities were becoming a deal clincher for many London house buyers and research has since shown soaring demand – and rents – in previously unfashionable areas where Boris Bike hire stations have been installed. It now seems that homes within popular cycling areas such as the Surrey Hills and the Chilterns are commanding a premium.

The Telegraph reports that nowadays it is cycling, not golf, that is persuading many people to leave London for the Home Counties.

Charles Davenport from the Knight Frank Cobham estate agency told the newspaper: “The growing trend for cycling has definitely introduced a new type of buyer to the patch and added a premium to homes with the Surrey Hills right on the doorstep.”

Knight Frank agent Oliver Beales says the story is similar in the Chilterns. “The challenging terrain, plus the cycle shop Lovelo and trendy café The Cog are making Berkhamsted and Tring desirable cycling hubs. Simply to be in an area such as the Chilterns or Surrey Hills is now a significant draw.”

Not that everyone’s of a similar mind. In 2013, a local businessman launched a ‘Stop Surrey Being Turned Into a Cycle Track’ petition and it is sadly not uncommon for Surrey sportives to be targeted by saboteurs.

The Telegraph also spoke to Richard Freshwater, the director of Cheffins estate agency in Cambridge. One in four Cambridge residents cycle commutes and Freshwater said many people bought houses without parking in the knowledge that they would cycle to work.

In London, Jayne McNally and Emmanuel Néret bought a one-bedroom flat in City Wharf so that they could cycle to work. Transport for London’s new cycle design guidelines ask for one bicycle storage space per one-bedroom flat in new developments and McNally said that the store in their building was full. “A few of the bikes have Deliveroo boxes on the back – that’s how people are funding their mortgages these days.”