With London covering 1,572 square kilometres, it’s easy to see why good public transport plays such an important part in the city’s success. Londoners can already travel between work and home using the London Underground (the Tube), Overground rail services, buses, and ferries up and down the river Thames. Now Transport for London has created two new schemes to make London an even more well-connected city: Crossrail and the Northern Line Extension.
Crossrail
Ai Li Khaw, Henry Wiltshire’s International Sales Director, says, “We’re really excited about Crossrail. It’s having a massive effect on house prices, as well as opening up areas where investors would never previously have thought about buying property.”
Crossrail is the new underground train link designed to improve journeys for London commuters, connecting outer London boroughs with Central London and the City, London’s financial district. Areas set to benefit include Ealing and Reading in the west and Forest Gate and Stratford in the east. The service will be available from 2018, with tunnels already under construction.
Crossrail is already having a dramatic effect on house prices, with areas previously thought to be undesirable because of poor transport links now seeing fantastic growth. Hong Kong investors are now looking to purchase property in areas beyond prime central location, and already there is a clear pattern of house price growth, with prices increasing by an average of 52% along Crossrail’s Elizabeth Line. *
The Northern Line Extension (NLE)
Other locations about to benefit from improved public transport are the areas of Nine Elms and Battersea. The Northern Line (one of the London Underground’s eleven lines) is being extended to include stations at Battersea and Nine Elms and will open in 2020. According to Transport for London, the new section of line will lead to the creation of 20,000 new homes, and have a very positive effect on South London’s house prices at the same time. Journey times from areas with SW8 postcodes are expected to be just fifteen minutes to the City where many people work, and to the West End for shopping and leisure.
Ai Li says, “Improving commute times from Nine Elms and Battersea is sure to make these locations very attractive to investors and tenants alike. With the arrival of the Northern Line Extension, we expect to see our SW8 rentals fill faster than ever, as it becomes a more convenient journey to work as well as a more desirable area.”
*Source: Zoopla
