Where to buy along the Piccadilly Night Tube network: top 10 cheapest homes hotspots along the latest line to join the 24-hour network
The Piccadilly line joins the Night Tube on Friday, just in time for peak pre-Christmas festivities. However, new research suggests buyers searching for homes with good price-growth prospects along the line should prepare for a comparatively long ride home from West End nightclubs.
The route’s strongest price growth has been recorded in homes less than 500 metres away from Piccadilly line stations in Zone 4, up 32.6 per cent in the last two years to an average £525,000, the Savills data shows.
Piccadilly line Zone 4 includes locations such as Southgate, Arnos Grove and Bounds Green in north London, and Boston Manor, Osterley, and Hounslow in the south-west, all of which are between 26 and 36 minutes from Leicester Square or Piccadilly Circus. Nod off and you could end up at Heathrow after 50 minutes.
Zone 5 locations have performed almost as strongly, with rises of 29.1 per cent to an average £518,000. As a yardstick, homes across London rose in value by just under 11 per cent in the same period to an average £570,000.
Worst-performing spot on the line is Zone 2, with 3.8 per cent rises to an average £714,076. Zone 1, which contains some of London’s most valuable areas including South Kensington and Knightsbridge, has seen 11.3 per cent growth to just under £1.9 million.
Savills’ research analyst Frances Clacy says Zones 4 and 5 benefited from their affordability compared to the most expensive zones, although she fears the Brexit blues will keep price growth timid across the capital for the next two years.
PICCADILLY LINE PRICE GROWTH BY TUBE ZONE
| Piccadilly Line Stations (500m radius around stations) | Average of Average Second Hand Sale Price, 12 months to September 2016 | Average of Average Second Hand Sale Price, 12 months to September 2014 | Two year change in average second hand sale price |
| Zone 1 | £1,877,593 | £1,686,558 | 11.3% |
| Zone 2 | £714,076 | £687,919 | 3.8% |
| Zone 3 | £603,688 | £479,401 | 25.9% |
| Zone 4 | £525,206 | £396,080 | 32.6% |
| Zone 5 | £518,249 | £401,503 | 29.1% |
Source: Savills Research using Land Registry
“From 2019, we expect improved economic prospects to boost buyer confidence, which will in turn create more capacity for house price growth, but this will be constrained by inevitable interest rate rises,” she adds.
“In London, competition for housing has increasingly led buyers to stretch their borrowing levels, and they’ve been able to do this because of low interest rates. The tightening of mortgage affordability is likely to be most apparent in inner London, where we’ve seen the highest levels of house price growth. In comparison, London’s lower-value outer boroughs are likely to perform more in line with markets in the commuter zone.”
In Bounds Green, Zone 4, Daniel Theobald, a partner at Wilkinson Byrne estate agents, says that while increases in stamp duty have halted the area’s previously lively buy-to-let market, owner-occupiers are still moving to the area, where a three-bedroom period house costs £700,000-£800,000 and a two-bedroom flat is £450,000-£500,000.
Myddleton Road, the area’s de facto high street, is coming up in the world with a good range of cafés, restaurants, and shops, and the local senior school, St Thomas More Catholic School, is rated “outstanding” by Ofsted.
“We are lucky to be surrounded by some quite affluent areas like Crouch End and Muswell Hill,” adds Theobald. “We are a bit left behind so there is a little bit of value for money, even though our transport links are actually better.”
It’s no surprise to find that Knightsbridge is the most expensive location along the Piccadilly line, with average prices of almost £4.3 million. The most budget-friendly options are: Wood Green, in Zone 3, with average prices of £473,673; Hounslow Central (Zone 4) at an average £344,150, and Hounslow West (Zone 5) at £367,513.