Every few months, another London postcode crosses a price threshold that makes buying there feel more theoretical than realistic. For a growing number of professionals, the answer has stopped being a smaller flat in the same city and started being a different town altogether.
Corby, a Northamptonshire town roughly seventy minutes from St Pancras by train, has quietly become one of those answers. House prices sit at a fraction of the capital’s; the town has posted some of the strongest population growth of anywhere in England for well over a decade, and getting into the city most days takes no longer than plenty of outer London journeys.
This piece looks at why Corby keeps coming up in relocation conversations, what it actually costs to make the move, and what day-to-day life looks like once you get there.
Key Takeaways
- Corby’s average house price sits close to £228,000, well under half the London average of £545,000.
- Average rent in the Corby area runs to under £1,000 a month, against roughly £2,290 across London.
- The fastest direct train to St Pancras takes just over an hour, with regular departures throughout the day.
- Corby’s population has grown faster than almost any other town in England for more than a decade.
- Town centre regeneration since 2010 has added a theatre, a full sized swimming venue and a sizeable retail quarter.
So, What Is Actually Drawing People to Corby?
Space and price are the two words that come up most. A budget that barely covers a one bedroom flat in outer London can stretch to a family house with a garden in Corby, and the train still gets you into St Pancras inside seventy minutes.
That combination has proven hard to ignore. Hybrid and remote working patterns mean fewer professionals need to be in the office five days a week, which shifts the calculation away from minutes on the clock and towards what a salary can actually buy.
Corby also carries less of the premium that comes with more established commuter towns closer to London. Buyers who missed the window on St Albans or Bedford are increasingly looking further up the line.
The deposit that secures a small starter flat in outer London is, in many cases, close to the full price of a modest terraced house in Corby. For anyone whose priority has shifted from proximity to space, that is a difficult figure to argue with.
The Numbers Behind the Move
Run the comparison and the gap is hard to argue with.
| Measure | Corby / North Northants | London |
|---|---|---|
| Average house price | £228,123 | £545,000 |
| Average monthly rent | £984 | £2,290 |
| Fastest train to St Pancras | 68 minutes | N/A |
These figures come from HM Land Registry sold price data and the latest ONS private rent and house price figures, so they reflect actual transactions rather than asking prices.
Average house price: Corby versus London, based on HM Land Registry data.
| Key Stat: A typical London home costs more than double Corby’s average, a gap of roughly £317,000 based on the most recent official figures. |
The saving does not stop at the purchase price either. Stamp Duty on a Corby average sale comes to roughly £2,000, against close to £17,000 on a London home at the current average, a further gap of some £15,000 that rarely features in the headline comparisons.
Renting Costs Less Than Half As Much
The rental gap follows the same pattern as house prices, and for professionals not ready to buy, it is often the more immediately noticeable saving.
- North Northamptonshire’s average private rent reached £984 a month in May 2026, up 7.1 percent on the year
- London’s average private rent stood at around £2,290 a month over the same period
- The gap works out to roughly £1,300 a month, or close to £15,700 over a year
Average monthly private rent: Corby area versus London and the UK.
Rents in the area have been climbing faster than the national average, which is exactly what you would expect in a town absorbing new residents faster than most of the country can build for them.
The Commute Is Shorter Than You Might Expect
A direct East Midlands Railway service covers the roughly 70 miles between Corby and London St Pancras International in as little as 68 minutes, with several departures an hour throughout the day. You can check live times and fares through the operator’s London to Corby train times tool before committing to anything.
“A direct service from Corby reaches London St Pancras in barely more than an hour, comparable to a door to door commute from parts of outer London.”
For anyone weighing up whether a longer train ride is worth the trade off, it helps to compare it honestly against the commute you already have. A crowded Zone 4 journey with two changes can easily take as long as a single seat ride from Corby, without the seat.
A Town That Has Reinvented Itself
Corby’s steel industry closed in 1980, and the decades since have involved one of the more thorough regeneration efforts of any English town. The Cube, a combined theatre, library and civic building, opened in the town centre in 2010, and few English towns have added residents at a faster rate since.
- Willow Place shopping quarter, with more than 150 shops, bars and restaurants
- Corby International Pool, a full sized competition venue open to the public
- East Carlton Countryside Park, 100 acres of parkland just outside town
- Fineshade Wood and the Welland Viaduct, both popular for walking and cycling
| Watch: Corby – The Industrial Heritage and Green Spaces of NorthamptonshireThis video walks through Corby’s industrial history and the green spaces that now define much of the town. |
Making the Move Itself
Relocating a household is rarely as simple as the price comparison suggests, and a move of this distance benefits from proper planning rather than a rushed weekend van hire.
Our earlier look at what Londoners moving to Swindon need to know covers many of the same practical questions, from school catchments to setting up utilities, and most of it applies just as well here.
If the move itself feels like the bigger hurdle than the destination, our roundup of options for long distance home moves is worth reading before you book anyone.
Prospective buyers and tenants weighing up the area often start with a local agent who knows the streets rather than just the postcode. Progressive Lets’ Corby estate & letting agents team works with landlords and tenants across the town and its surrounding villages, which is a reasonable first call for anyone serious about making the move.
Timing matters too. Renters typically move faster than buyers, so anyone planning to try the area before committing to a purchase should budget a month or two to find the right rental, particularly given how quickly the local market has been moving.
Settling In Once You Arrive
A bigger property usually means more rooms to furnish, and a fresh start is as good a reason as any to think properly about how a new home should look rather than replicating a cramped London layout out of habit. A garden, a spare room for a proper home office, or simply a hallway wide enough for a pram all tend to feature high on the list once people have made the move.
Our interiors coverage has plenty of ideas for making a larger space feel considered rather than simply bigger, and our wider Property section tracks the sort of homes and developments worth knowing about if Corby is just the first stop.
