Effect of Crossrail on the London property market

Crossrail is now only 4 years off completion and with 70 miles of new line to serve over 35 stations, it is set to reduce average journey times and will increase London’s rail capacity by 10%. It has been predicted that Crossrail could add £5.5 billion in value to residential and commercial real estate around the stations of the route over the next 10 years. 

Crossrail is developing state of the art new buildings around and above the new stations which will benefit workers, local residents and tourists for many years. The staggering improvement in journey times and number of trains per hour in conjunction with the large amount of new development will have a number of positive effects on London’s commercial and residential markets:

Crossrail will create over 60,000 new homes and around 3.5 million square metres of commercial space. The most significant investment areas in Central London include Canary Wharf and Farringdon. 

Once Crossrail has been completed it will make Farringdon probably the most accessible sub-market of Central London. With easy access from East, West, North and South it is a prime area to have an office. This coupled with Farringdon / Clerkenwell benefitting from being one of the most attractive areas to media occupiers will create extremely high demand in the area pushing rents up and up. It has already increased hugely in the area with rents of £52.50 per sq. ft. being achieved recently in the Buckley Building.

Crossrail is already having a positive impact on investment decisions and at many locations Crossrail will be influential in supporting and influencing new development.

This news was brought to you by Morgan Pryce, a specialist tenant acquisition agent with offices in Oxford Circus and the City. Morgan Pryce specialises in search, negotiation and project management and works exclusively for tenants.