Member Article

Save £653 by moving one Metro stop

Moving just one Metro stop saves you an average £75 every month – and could save you as much as £653.

This month’s Tyne and Wear Rent Map from property firm KIS – which shows what the Metro Map would look like if the names of the stations were replaced with the average monthly cost of renting a home there – shows rents varying by an average of £75 from station to station.

West Jesmond (£787) and Jesmond (£786) have overtaken Tynemouth (£775) as the most expensive places outside of central Newcastle to rent, followed by Whitley Bay (£688) and South Gosforth (£675).

Gateshead (£664), ranked fourth most expensive to rent in January has slipped to seventh, also overtaken by Ilford Road (£673).

Byker (£372) is once again the cheapest place to rent, followed by Jarrow (£375), Pallion (£413), Heworth (£415) and Tyne Dock (£421).

The map shows the typical cost per month of renting a two-bedroom property within a quarter of a mile of every one of the Metro’s 60 stations – revealing which areas are Tyne and Wear’s property hotspots and where renters can find a bargain.

The research shows that the biggest single change in rent from station to station continues to occur between Manors and Byker, with a price difference of £653 a month.

The research shows that excluding central Newcastle, the top five most expensive places to rent in Tyne and Wear on a per calendar month basis (last month’s position in brackets) are:

1. West Jesmond (2) - £787 2. Jesmond (3) - £786 3. Tynemouth (1) - £775 4. Whitley Bay (-) - £688 5. South Gosforth (5) - £673

The cheapest five areas to rent on the other hand are:

1. Byker (4) - £372 2. Jarrow (5) - £375 3. Pallion (=1) - £413 4. Heworth (2)- £415 5. Tyne Dock (=1) - £421

The largest differences from station to station are:

1. £653 (Manors to Byker) 2. £315 (Tynemouth to Cullercoats) 3. £275 (Tynemouth to North Shields) 4. £272 (Haymarket to Newcastle Central) 5. £239 (Haymaket to Jesmond) 6. £228 (Whitley Bay to Cullercoats) 7. £175 (Chillingham Road to Byker) 8. £156 (Wallsend to Walkerville) 9. £129 (Newcastle Central to Gateshead) 10. £126 (Park Lane to Sunderland)

Ajay Jagota, Managing Director of KIS and founder of insurance backed deposit-free renting solution D_Lighted responded to the figures:

He said: “Recent figures showed that on renters will on average pay more than £50,000 in rent before they’ve saved enough to put a deposit down on a house. The real value of research like ours is showing people saving up to buy their first home how they could save a deposit quicker by widening a search for a rental home by a matter of streets.

“On an average North East wage of just over £24,000 a year, for example, 23% of your income will go on rent in Cullercoats. Move next door to Tynemouth and that figure rises to 38%.

“Every month I’m struck by the changes from station to station – Sunderland and Park Lane couldn’t be closer as stations – but despite the fact that both have a SR1 postcode, there’s a difference in over £100 a month in rent.

“Our research shows the real value of a good agent to a landlord too. This month we found on agent listing a property in Jarrow as Newcastle!

“Whether that was wonky geography or ambitious marketing on the part of an agent, it reveals a truth about making a profit out of property. You need to know where properties are moving and how to move the properties you have. And that’s where a good agent comes in.”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Ajay Jagota .