Homes close to stations for London’s new Crossrail route are already seeing a price boost with average values up 22% over the past two years, new research has found.
This 22% rise in prices along the new route, known as the Elizabeth Line, is substantially higher than the 14% increase in surrounding areas, according to the research report from Lloyds Bank.
Some locations, such as Abbey Wood, Forest Gate and West Drayton have seen the biggest price jump with all up by nearly 50%.
The Elizabeth Line will begin operating in May 2017, although the full service stretching from Reading, in Berkshire, to Shenfield, in Essex, won’t be operational until December 2019.
Despite this, house prices near future Crossrail stations have already seen an average increase from £344,242in 2014 to £420,798 in 2016, compared to an average 14% growth for surrounding local authority areas and a 13% rise for Greater London.
Of the 33 stations surveyed along the new Crossrail route, 28 have seen average house price growth for homes in the same postcode sector outpace the average house price growth for the surrounding local authority areas of 14% over the past two years.
Homes in Abbey Wood and Forest Gate, both to the east of London, have seen the biggest price increases up 47% from £197,077 to £288,789 and up 46% from £330,680 to £483,362 respectively. Towards the city centre, West Drayton has also seen values climb by 46% from £249,790 to £363,849.
To the west of London, homes in the Burnham area have seen their average house prices jump by 40%, followed by Slough up 34% and Maidenhead up 32%. These increases have comfortably outpaced the 15% house price growth for the South-East region as a whole over the past two years, the report shows.
The most expensive area on the new route is Paddington, where the average house price is just over £1 million. As well as being the most expensive, Paddington house prices have also seen the biggest growth following Royal Assent being granted to the Crossrail project in 2008 almost doubling with a 99% over the past eight years.
Homes near Langley Station have the largest average house price premium compared to the surrounding local authority area of Slough, with an average house price of £589,157 compared to £292,387, a premium of 101%. The next largest premium is for homes close to Iver station, also in the local authority area of Slough, with a premium of 82%.
‘Crossrail promises to connect towns in Berkshire and Buckinghamshire to Essex and south-east London, via the centre of the capital, by offering a frequent and fast service which will integrate with the existing Underground network. This will clearly prove attractive to many commuters, as the new service will make it much easier to reach key destinations such as the City of London, Canary Wharf and Heathrow Airport,’ said Andrew Mason, Lloyds Bank mortgage products director.
‘Even though we’re still three years away from the launch of the full service, the Crossrail effect is already having a positive impact on house prices near stations on the Elizabeth Line. It will be interesting to see how these grow further between now and the service becoming fully operational in December 2019,’ he added.
