Crossrail is delivering the Elizabeth Line, a new high-speed railway line set to run from Shenfield and Abbey Wood in the east, through London and out to Heathrow and Reading in the west. It’s estimated that around 200 million passengers per year will use the new Elizabeth Line when services begin, and it will increase central London’s rail capacity by 10%.
With some delays caused by the pandemic, the Elizabeth Line is now in the final stages and is due to open early in 2022. With a number of new stations opening across London and the surrounding areas, commuters may have more options for where they can live whilst still having easy access to London and the public transport network. But can Londoner’s save money on their property by moving to a Crossrail station location?
What Stations Does Crossrail Stop At?
Crossrail will have four different start and end points: Reading and Heathrow in the west and Shenfield and Abbey Wood in the east. The Reading route stops at stations including Maidenhead, Slough, and West Drayton. The Shenfield route also includes Brentwood, Romford, Seven Kings, and Stratford. The Abbey Wood Route also includes Woolwich, Custom House, and Canary Wharf. The center of the line runs through central London, including Ealing Broadway, Paddington, Bond Street, Tottenham Court Road, and Liverpool Street.
The full Elizabeth Line route can be seen on the Crossrail website.
How Long Will Journeys Take on Crossrail?
A journey from one end of Crossrail to the other – that is, from Reading to Shenfield – will take an hour and 42 minutes. Currently, the same journey on National Rail takes an hour and 47 minutes, but that also includes two changes, so the new Crossrail route will be much more straightforward to use.
Crossrail will also save Londoners time to get to Heathrow. Currently, the time to take the Underground from Paddington to Heathrow takes around an hour. The new Elizabeth Line will take just 24 minutes to do the same journey.
Where’s the Cheapest Place to Live on the Elizabeth Line?
With the Crossrail line covering such a vast area – the line travels for 73 miles of track – there’s bound to be a vast array of property prices along the way. We took a selection of Crossrail stations on the new Elizabeth Line and found the average property price around that area for this year.
The area with the cheapest average property price was Slough, on the west side of the line. The average property price around Slough station was £162,333. This offers commuters a cost-effective location to buy property whilst also staying connected to central London, with buyers only needing a deposit of around £16,000 to secure a property. The second cheapest area on the Crossrail was around Romford station on the east side of the line. The average property price around Romford station was £257,938 – a jump up from Slough but still affordable when compared with many areas in central London. At either of these locations, London commuters could save money on their property and also still be around 30 minutes journey from central London.
Unsurprisingly, the more central stations had more expensive property prices – Bond Street was the most expensive, with an average price of £7,946,667 and Tottenham Court Road followed with an average property price of £1,550,647. However, it wasn’t just the central stations that proved to be expensive to buy property. Shenfield, the station furthest east, was the third most expensive and also had an average property price over £1,000,000. This shows that just because you might be looking at property outside of central London, it’s not guaranteed to be cheaper.
The full list of Crossrail stations we researched can be seen below, from cheapest to most expensive.
Crossrail Station | Average Property Price |
Slough | £162,333 |
Romford | £257,938 |
Woolwich | £331,196 |
Reading | £352,143 |
Seven Kings | £387,393 |
Maidenhead | £390,297 |
Abbey Wood | £401,107 |
Farringdon | £705,700 |
Canary Wharf | £819,983 |
Paddington | £902,235 |
Shenfield | £1,025,760 |
Tottenham Court Road | £1,550,647 |
Bond Street | £7,946,667 |
Where to Buy in London
Property prices range in price all over London, but its certain that most people looking to buy in the city will also be looking for reliable and speedy public transport connections. Crossrail looks to be able to promise just that, and also extends the network to include more areas that may have otherwise been out of the running for London commuters looking to find suitable property for sale.
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