House prices in the London neighbourhood of Old Oak Common have fallen by £97,500 since 2023, despite expectations that the HS2 railway project would drive significant growth. According to analysis by Ranking Atlas, the median sale value in postcodes surrounding the planned HS2 interchange dropped 18.8%, from £517,500 to £420,000.
HS2's Impact on Property Values
When HS2 was first announced in 2012, estate agents predicted substantial price increases for areas near its proposed stops, citing the average 79% premium within walking distance of Crossrail stations. However, the repeatedly delayed project has had a detrimental effect on Old Oak Common's property market. Ranking Atlas found that between 2012 and late 2023—when phase two of HS2 was scrapped—median sale values in NW10 and W3 underperformed the English average by 4.8 percentage points.
Daniel Grainger, founder of Ranking Atlas, told Metro: 'Old Oak Common is the one HS2 station that is actually under construction, yet it's suffered the greatest land value drop in the whole dataset.' He added that residents were 'promised the uplift a new super-hub is supposed to bring' but experienced only 'the disruption and the losses.'
Long-Term Outlook Remains Positive
Verona Frankish, CEO of Yopa, offered a more optimistic view. 'Large infrastructure projects have long been associated with rising house prices, but the reality is that the timing of those gains is rarely straightforward,' she told Metro. 'Buyers tend to place a premium on completed improvements rather than the promise of future regeneration, and Old Oak Common is currently in that difficult transition period where many of the drawbacks of redevelopment are being felt long before the full benefits are realised.'
The London Mayoral Development Corporation plans to transform Old Oak into 'a new urban district' with 8,000 new homes, 200,000 sqm of commercial and community space, and two new parks. However, the station is not expected to open until 2035, with the masterplan stating 2050 as a completion date. Frankish noted that 'today's buyers are still purchasing into uncertainty, and that inevitably tempers demand.'
Current Amenities and Transport Links
Despite the construction disruption, the area offers access to Wormwood Scrubs Open Space, Westfield shopping centre, and the Grand Union Canal. Transport links include East Acton, Willesden Junction, and North Acton stations, as well as the Elizabeth line via Acton Main Line. The new HS2 station is expected to handle 250,000 passengers daily once fully operational.
Local opinions are mixed. Residents' group Welcome to Old Oak described it as a 'thriving village community,' while some Reddit users called it a 'great place to live' and an 'exciting area.' Others, however, labelled it 'Hell on Earth' and 'the bleakest place I've ever lived.' Frankish concluded that 'the longer-term outlook remains positive' and the area should become a 'far more compelling residential proposition' once construction progresses.
