Are our city’s main streets the next big thing in property investment?

Since the industrial age and the advent of the motor car, London’s main streets have become less and less popular for residential properties, but with the dawn of a more eco-conscious age, electric cars and congestion charges, are our main streets where the smart money will be invested? 

London’s original streets in Prime Central locations have struggled over the last century in terms of residential property, with buyers favouring the quieter, less congested streets for their homes. 

Beautiful and architecturally innovative roads such as Kings Road and Redcliffe Gardens have seen both residents and businesses come and go and witnessed the gradual devaluation of property.  It’s not just our health that’s under attack from pollution, but our buildings too.

But is this all about to change?  Could our main streets be the next big thing in property? 

While the quiet residential streets in central city locations have largely continued to hold or increase their value, some might say property in these roads is becoming unattainable for all but the super-rich. 

London and other major European cities are starting to tackle pollution and traffic. And even if our roads continue to play host to hundreds of thousands of cars on a daily basis, the reality is that fossil fuels are running out. At some point in the near future, we will have run out and going electric will be no longer be a choice.  

Tesla road test, London

As Elon Musk said, “We must at some point achieve a sustainable energy economy or we will run out of fossil fuels to burn and civilization will collapse.” 

While we don’t really know how long it will take to burn through all our fossil fuels, electric cars are inevitable. They will replace petrol and diesel ones – in the UK anyway - with the government having already announced that from 2040 it will ban the sale of all new diesel and petrol cars and vans in this country.

This ban could even be brought forward by five years in order to encourage and accelerate the take-up of electric vehicles, according to Secretary Of State For Transport, Grant Shapps, who said that ‘the government's target to ensure all new cars are zero-emission models by 2040 may be shifted to 2035’ under new plans.

While 2040, or even 2035 might seem a long way away, in terms of future investment, now is the perfect time to buy. Once noise and pollution is reduced, our main streets will start to recover. No longer noisy and fuel-filled, they’ll become quieter and cleaner again, allowing residents to return and prices to increase.  A very sensible investment, you’d think.

And if that’s the case, the smart money is on our busiest streets, right now.