London’s Night Tube could see property prices jump
Great news if you own London property.
Maybe not so great if your rent is already eating up half of your wages.
An impact study by GVA found that the Crossrail transport project would increase "residential and commercial value of as much as £5.5bn along the route between 2012 and 2021".
The availability of a new Night Tube service should similarly make homes along the affected lines even more desirable – and increase consumer appetite for them.
This map from Find Properly shows how property prices vary along London's tube lines at the moment:
The Night Tube is one of the better reasons for an increase in London house prices – those who live by them are getting a new service, and one that many users of overcrowded night buses have been waiting for. But high property prices in general – often the result of tight planning rules – are clearly less desirable.
Savills research suggests that "regulatory burdens as well as unviable affordable housing demands and CIL can delay building", while "conditions attached to many permissions can still prevent construction work starting on sites".
The research recommends that "local planning authorities must be open to negotiations regarding affordable housing requirements in order to deliver private rented housing where the market demands".
And that's the real tragedy of our housing market – planning rules make construction unresponsive to demand. In "The Price Responsiveness of Housing Supply in OECD Countries" it was found that the UK has very poor flexibility. The country is ranked 14th out of 21 – in the UK a one per cent rise in prices will see supply increase by just 0.4 per cent.