Friday 27 February 2015

"Get rich quick"

From today's City AM:

An interactive graphic released last month by sales agent JLL on their website predicts the parts of the route that are likely to see the biggest house price growth once the Shenfield to Reading line starts to kick in in 2020.

The agent has charted all 38 stations and installed a number of filters that predict where the most money can be made. Top performing areas include Whitechapel in east London, with Woolwich in the south east coming in at a close second.


'Nuff said.

9 comments:

Lola said...

Jeez....sigh. I am getting really grumpy about all this.

john b said...

I'm a bit sceptical. A friend bought a flat in Whitechapel in 2007 precisely because it'd be worth a fortune once Crossrail was finished. You'd need to assume real estate speculators were extremely, blindly stupid for the majority of the Crossrail gain not to have happened already among house buyers.

(on the other hand, tenants in those areas can certainly look forward to rent rises when the railway appears).

Mark Wadsworth said...

L, you id the story a while ago actually.

JB, yes of course.

With things like this "it's already in the price" and most of the getting-rich-quick has already been done. But somebody has got or will get rich quick, largely thanks the public investment in the railway.

Bayard said...

I could tell that there was a bypass planned for a couple of villages on a busy main road near me, long before there was any official announcement, because large luxury detached houses started being built along the road in both villages.

Lola said...

MW Yep. It's just that it is always in the newsflow. How can the English be weaned off all this?

Physiocrat said...

How much of the expected benefits have already been capitalised into prices is an interesting question. There was a similar situation in areas served by London Overground, which opened in 2011. This was under construction for several years. When did the prices rise to take account of it?

Whether, at £14 billion, Crossrail is best value for money is another question again. It was originally conceived as a relief route to the Central Line and Circle Line between Paddington and Liverpool Street. That could have been constructed as another tube line and have been opened years ago at a fraction of the cost. However, such is the pace of growth of the London region that a tube line would itself have been showing its inadequacies by now; indeed, how long will it be before Crossrail is overloaded?

Physiocrat said...

How long was it before London Overground opened that house prices rose in Lewisham, etc? My impression was that the boom came soon after the trains started running but this could be checked by tracking prices.

I am still sceptical about whether it was value for money. After all, it was originally conceived as a tube line from Paddington to Liverpool Street which could have been built at a fraction of the cost and opened a decade ago.

Bayard said...

"indeed, how long will it be before Crossrail is overloaded?"

A few days after it opens, I suspect.

Mark Wadsworth said...

Phys: "When did the prices rise to take account of it?"

Most of the gains happen as soon as the plans become definite.

B, no, not days, it takes a few weeks.