Crossrail will cause average house prices to rise £60,000 by 2018, CBRE has estimated.

The firm believes Europe’s largest infrastructure project is well underway to increase the capacity of London’s transport system by 10%, while adding around 13% to house prices between now and when the first lines become operational in 2018.

This reflects both a reduction in travel time and the on-going combined regeneration from commercial, residential and retail investment.

On completion, over 200 million passengers are expected to travel using Crossrail each year, leading to the creation of central hubs such as Paddington and Farringdon, where extensive public realm programmes are already being prepared and implemented.

CBRE argues the completion of Crossrail will have a twofold effect on the housing market: the rise of wider regeneration, coupled with significantly reducing commuters travel times to and from the capital every day. For today’s 750,000 existing commuters, journey times into central London will be reduced by an average of 15 minutes, equivalent to 25% of the current average commute.

Jennet Siebrits, head of residential research at CBRE, said: “The findings from this report clearly demonstrate the inextricable link between transport connections and house prices. Since the Crossrail programme gained royal assent in 2008, house prices around affected stations have risen by 20% in excess of the London average.

“CBRE has identified that a 10% reduction in commuting time will increase a property’s value by up to 6%.

“For those traveling into London, travel times are forecast to reduce by an average of 15 minutes. However, from outer stations, including Maidenhead, Taplow and Burnham, the journey times into Canary Wharf will be greatly reduced by up to 40 minutes.

“The impact is most significant in those western areas such as Southall, Ealing and Hanwell which will eventually see journey times cut by between 20 and 30 minutes. In contrast, the reduction in journey times for those areas in the east are more modest with an average reduction closer to six minutes.

“Those locations set to benefit the most are Ealing Broadway, Farringdon, Paddington, all will experience value uplift in excess of 15% over the next five years, or even as much as 27% in the case of Farringdon.”

Ian Lindsay, land and property director at Crossrail, added: “Crossrail is a once in a generation opportunity to deliver transformational change and act as a catalyst for regeneration. Not only are we cutting travel times and building new stations, we are developing three million square feet of commercial and residential space above our stations and improving the surrounding areas. This is addition to the millions of square feet of development happening in close proximity to the Crossrail route.

“Additional transport capacity is encouraging the property sector to deliver much needed new residential and commercial space for London. As CBRE’s research rightly shows, Crossrail will be a game changer for London.”