Last week, Development Finance Today found that major infrastructure and transport projects were always of interest to developers and could become a lucrative market.

Andrew Dixon, head of policy at FMB, felt projects such as HS2 and Crossrail were already having an effect on housebuilding in major cities.

“Developers will always be more attracted to areas that are well connected and integrated into the wider transport infrastructure, as properties will have higher value and be more attractive to prospective buyers.

“Resolving the housing crisis is not simply a question of building more homes, but building more homes in the right places, so developing adequate transport and infrastructure is vital to this end.”

Jordan McBriar of Adapt Finance said it had found that the main focus for its clients was to establish the next accessible location close to the big cities, which would enable them to create a ‘residential hotspot’.

“Most notably in this instance has been Crossrail, which has allowed historically ‘working’ towns such as Slough to become massively, residentially populated.

“Now we are seeing projects becoming real such as HS2, which will connect Manchester to London in around 68 minutes.

“[This is likely to] see commuters being able to make this currently arduous journey [much more easily].

“This again will create housing booms, even in the North, as a result.”

Bob Sturges, head of PR and communications at Fortwell Capital, highlighted other areas where new transport links were seeing a growth in developer interests.

"For us, a number of lucrative and attractive funding opportunities have presented themselves through the regeneration of previously unfashionable areas such as Croydon in south London.

"Major inward investment, coupled with a more liberal and certain PDR [permitted development rights] regime, has encouraged fleet-of-foot developers to move in in numbers.

"A similar story in unfolding in areas such as Reading and Maidenhead west of London as they anticipate the arrival of the aforementioned Crossrail.”

Ashley Ilsen, head of lending at Regentsmead, added: “As developers are always looking for opportunity, they try to pre-empt the positive effects that infrastructure investment will have on the local economy and subsequently on property prices.

“They rely on there being a trickledown effect in the local area, whereby the initial investment ultimately ends up benefiting locals (and local GDP), which in turn increases property prices.”

Nick Hilton, head of lending at Century Capital, continued by adding: “UK cities need to offer affordable housing that connects jobs and services.

“There will be an urgency to build more homes and improve overcrowded infrastructure.

“In a recent report, Centre for London quoted ‘planned schemes like Crossrail 2 and the Bakerloo line extension are premised on developer contributions’.”

James Bloom, managing director of development finance at Masthaven, concluded by adding that good transport links were a vital part of the support mechanism for housing demand and therefore had an important impact on prices.

“There is no doubt that major transport projects should be carefully factored into proposed developments and their location.

“Developers should be especially aware of how location impacts on prices in the current market. 

“It is vital that this is made central to the decision-making process when undertaking a new development.”