Spotlights on Hillingdon

Rapid growth in West London’s cheapest borough

In the year to March 2016, prices rose faster in Hillingdon than any other London borough. In anticipation of its two new Crossrail stations, Hayes & Harlington and West Drayton, Hillingdon prices shot up by 17.1% – almost three times the national average.[1] While house price growth across the UK has become more sluggish since the Brexit vote, City A.M. recently predicted that Hillingdon would continue to see moderate growth of 2% this year, the fourth highest in the Capital.[2]

Despite these increases, the borough remains affordable – especially by West London standards. In 2016, the overall average price of property in Hillingdon was £444,137, making it more affordable than nearby Hounslow (£478,817), and far cheaper than neighbouring Ealing (£551,637), Richmond upon Thames (£783,173) and Hammersmith and Fulham (£962,567).[3]

Hayes becoming a high-tech commuter hub

A close neighbour to Heathrow Airport, Hayes is better known for its industry than its residences – but perhaps not for long. When the Crossrail trains start running, Hayes’ affordable properties will be within easy commuting distance of the Capital’s main employment hubs. With its improving transport connections, Hayes town centre has been recently designated as a new housing zone which is estimated to provide 2,788 new homes over the next ten years.[4]

Hayes’ flagship project is The Old Vinyl Factory, a £250m regeneration of the 18-acre site that was once home to EMI headquarters. The new neighbourhood will include a community hub, containing more than 630 new homes alongside restored Art Deco buildings which are set to become boutique shops, work studios, bars and cafés, a cinema and a museum. The overall development is expected to create 4,000 jobs and 750,000 square feet of commercial and leisure space by 2022[5]

Home to many multi-nationals

Thanks to a good supply of Grade-A office space and a high concentration of hotels, many large multi-national companies operate from Hillingdon. Apple, GlaxoSmithKline, Robert Bosch, Hertz, Xerox, Canon, Rackspace, Cadbury, United Biscuits and Coca-Cola all have their headquarters here. With employment opportunities spread across several business parks, thousands of commuters pour into the borough each day.

Excellent road, rail and air links

Hillingdon is blessed with superb connectivity. Three Tube lines run through the borough – Central, Piccadilly and Metropolitan – with journeys to central London taking approximately 30 minutes. By rail, First Great Western provides 20-minute journeys to Paddington and direct trains to Reading and Oxford.[6] By road, there’s easy access to the M4, M25, M40 and M3 motorways, with Heathrow Airport a 15-minute drive and central London less than an hour.

When the Elizabeth line trains start running from late 2018, Crossrail will deliver a direct connection to all of London’s main employment centres linking Hillingdon with Paddington, the West End, the City and Canary Wharf. Journeys from Hayes to Bond Street will drop from 35 to 20 minutes and journeys to Canary Wharf from 52 to 34 minutes.[7]

Heathrow expansion set to bring more jobs

Heathrow Airport employs 76,500 people – over 50% of which live nearby. As one of the world’s busiest airports, Hillingdon owes much of its economic success to Heathrow. The UK government is backing plans for a third runway at Heathrow which, if approved by Parliament later this year, is expected to create 180,000 more jobs across the UK.[8]

Despite the clear economic benefits to Hillingdon that up 40,000 new local jobs would bring, years of uncertainty about the airport plans have caused values of properties close to the airport to drop. Investors looking for a bargain could find homes in this part of the borough especially affordable.[9]

A family-friendly borough with award-winning parks

With more than 200 green spaces covering 1,800 acres, Hillingdon has received 42 green flag awards – more than any other local authority in the UK.[10] The borough has a large selection of excellent primary and secondary schools, and Uxbridge College is one of the most successful further education colleges in the country.[11] Its leisure facilities are a huge draw too. Highlights include the newly refurbished Hillingdon Sports and Leisure Complex, the Hillingdon Cycle Circuit at Minet Country Park, and the BMX track at Lake Farm Country Park.

Current asking prices and rental yields

The current average value of properties in the London borough of Hillingdon is £484,895. It has seen a decrease of 0.11% in the last 12 months and an increase of 44.20% in the last five years. For a two-bedroom apartment, the average asking price is £366,760, and the average asking rent is £1,354pcm, which means the gross rental yield is currently 4.40%.[12]

This content is correct as of April 2017