HOUSE prices are set to boom in Chandler's Ford when the town's train station is reopened, estate agents have warned.

They predict hundreds of London commuters will want to set up home in the area when the station opens for business in the summer or autumn of next year.

Experts believe property values in the leafy suburb could soar by as much as ten per cent.

The station is back on track after an absence of 33 years with more than 700 commuters expected to use it every day rising to 1,000 over five years, Hampshire County Council esti-mates.

Many city workers will be enticed to the area thanks to substantially lower property prices than London, triggering a huge demand for homes. These revelations come on top of new figures published that show house prices in the south have risen by more than 20 per cent in the past year, taking the average cost to £122,924.

A senior Chandler's Ford branch manager from Mann Countryside estate agency, Andrea Parker, said: "Within two years of a passenger service starting locally house prices will rise by about ten per cent.

"People from London will move here because house prices will be lower and they can commute to work.

"But if it's a busy train line the saleability of some houses backing on to the line will be affected which could affect the price."

Developers have been queuing up to grab brownfield sites in the Chandler's Ford area in anticipation of the coming property boom.

Bringing the station back on track will cost £1m that will pay for 55 car parking spaces, 30 to 40 bicycles racks, CCTV cameras and for the station to be manned for at least the first half of every day.

Closed down in 1969, the station is to be reopened under a £33.5bn government initia-tive aimed at increasing rail passenger num-ber by 50 per cent.

Trains will run from Romsey station to Totton station with commuters from Chandler's Ford changing at Southampton Parkway station to pick up fast trains into the city. Currently only freight trains use the line.