Seven UK cities it’s cheaper to fly from than pay a mortgage in London
We all know London's an expensive place to live – but this is just ridiculous.
A study by online estate agent Emoov seen exclusively by City A.M. has found it would be cheaper to buy a house in seven of the UK's largest cities, fly down and stay in a budget hotel for a week, then fly back at the weekend than it is to live and work in the capital.
The company looked at eight cities outside London with direct flight paths to the capital and found in seven of them, commuters could make savings on their mortgages.
Glasgow was the furthest away, but it also offered the biggest savings. With an average house price of just shy of £156,000, the £204.98 it would cost to fly to and from London each week and stay at a Premier Inn for four nights means homeowners could save £11,845 a year on their mortgage, compared with if they had bought a home in the capital (incidentally, it is also the UK's cheapest city for train travel).
Read more: This map shows how London house prices have changed since Brexit
| From | House price | To | Round trip | 4 nights at a Premier Inn | Annual Travel Cost | Total savings |
| Glasgow | £155,195 | Stansted | £53 | £152 | £9,429 | £11,846 |
| Newcastle | £192,671 | Heathrow | £83 | £178 | £12,012 | £7,448 |
| Manchester | £162,970 | Heathrow | £90 | £178 | £12,334 | £8,564 |
| Belfast | £190,524 | Gatwick | £42 | £133 | £8,026 | £11,537 |
| Edinburgh | £241,367 | Stansted | £57 | £152 | £9,613 | £7,487 |
| Leeds | £185,217 | Heathrow | £86 | £178 | £12,150 | £7,670 |
| Newquay | £240,164 | Gatwick | £121 | £133 | £11,660 | £5,498 |
The only city that missed out was Exeter: flying to and from the university city would cost homeowners an extra £3,820, despite the fact that at £259,221, the average house price is less than half the £594,298 average price in the capital.
“With London property prices continuing to push aspirational buyers further and further out of the capital, there’s no telling where we might be in 10 years’ time in terms of the commute people will consider if prices continue to climb from the inside out," pointed out Emoov chief executive Russell Quirk.
"When you also consider that you could live in the likes of Glasgow, or Manchester, where the cost of living and buying is dramatically lower, but still earn a London wage, it seems even more attractive. Couple this with the fact that many companies may even foot the travel or accommodation costs and the savings continue to rise.”