Ever looked around on your commute and wondered how much your fellow passengers are paying for their mortgages?
Well, you’re in luck, as we now have the definitive answer on which London Tube line has the most expensive monthly payments.
As ever, it’s mind the mortgage gap, as the Circle line has been named the priciest for homeowners across the Underground network, with an average payment of £4,937 per month. Ouch.
The winner isn’t too much of a surprise, considering this route is home to central – and especially upmarket – spots like Great Portland Street (which had the highest mortgages of all stations at £8,970 per month), Victoria, Sloane Square, and High Street Kensington.
But in terms of convenience, it leaves a lot to be desired for some. Disgruntled Redditors have previously bestowed it with the title of ‘useless’, mainly owing to the fact that it’s ‘bloody slow’ and ‘confusing.’
As it overlaps with the District Line at various points, with both stopping at the same platforms, they’re easily mixed up.
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But even if you’ve deciphered the map, you could face a wait of up to 20 minutes, as the Circle has the second-lowest frequency of trains across the entire network.
That hasn’t stopped househunters paying through the nose to live along it though. In South Kensington, the going rate for a home is currently £1,942,784, while Gloucester Road isn’t much better at £1,942,784, and High Street Kensington comes in at £1,853,676.
Even the two cheapest Circle stations are still pretty dear: Ladbroke Grove and Latimer Road in W10 both see average sold prices of of £669,354.
The next most expensive route, according to Alexander Hall’s research, is the Waterloo & City line, which famously only has two stations, and where MONTHLY MORTGAGE PAYMENTS TOP £XYZ.
In the late 1800s, a survey found 12,000 people A day needed to get from Waterloo to the City (and back home again, as many commuted in from Surrey and the surrounding home counties). So, in 1894, work began on this short but sweet route – and it received its royal opening by Prince George, the Duke of Cambridge, four years later.
Property prices look a lot different to how they did then, with the data showing that in Waterloo, a home now averages at £730,343.
It’s not much better in Bank, the financial heart of the city, where properties typically cost £1,204,474 – a whopping £934,274 over the value of the average for the UK (£270,200, according to Zoopla).
The oh-so-reliable Victoria Line came in third place with average monthly mortgages of £4,003, followed by the Northern and Bakerloo lines, where payments sit at £3,766 and £3,741 respectively.
In terms of the most affordable mortgage costs on TfL’s map, the DLR takes the crown at £2,278 a month.
It’s not technically a Tube line, so if we’re being pedantic, the Metropolitan is the Underground’s cheapest at £3,201 – but even this is still pretty hefty.
Meanwhile, the station with the lowest house price in the capital is Watford (this time, not technically in London), where the average home now costs £345,065.
‘London property values have been holding steady over the past year and we know the capital remains home to the strongest housing market with respect to the price commanded for bricks and mortar,’ Stephanie Daley, director of partnerships at Alexander Hall tells BadVibes.
‘However, one weapon in the arsenal of London homebuyers is the capital’s outstanding transport links and the London Underground, in particular.
‘As our research shows, you can dramatically reduce the cost of your mortgage by looking further along the Tube line that runs through your ideal destination.
‘While you may not want to adjust your expectations from High Street Kensington to Barking, you may well find that even a stop or two can help to cut the cost required to climb the London ladder.’
