_Could future high-speed travel be the answer to housing affordability?

Whilst there is an abundance of land available for development outside cities, the difficulty lies in convincing populations to move there. The ability to travel easily from your home to your place of work, ease of access to shops, entertainment and other amenities, can have an impact on the quality of life.

Linking satellite towns and cities with more established ones via a fast and efficient transport network could reduce demand in high-price areas and increase the standard of living for commuters.

The virtual expansion of a city is not a new idea. Many governments work on large-scale infrastructure projects to help reduce travel times between destinations and enable citizens to commute from further afield without adding time.

For example, Crossrail in London is expected to bring an additional 1.5 million people within a 45-minute journey time of central London. The brainchild of Elon Musk, Hyperloop, is taking this concept one step further. As a new spectacularly fast mode of intercity transportation, Hyperloop could help open up swathes of unused land for residential development. 

Hyperloop

Originally it was conceived to help Californians cross the distance between San Francisco and Los Angeles in half an hour. The project was first mooted in 2012, when Musk called for a “fifth” mode of transport to add to car, plane, boat, and train.

He announced that this new innovation would be called “Hyperloop”, and would shoot travellers through vacuum tubes at 1,000 kilometres per hour. It will be “a cross between Concorde, a railgun, and an air hockey table,” he said. 

If successful, Hyperloop could make travel between cities much easier, taking the pressure off gridlocked roads, cutting travel times and breathing new life into and expanding the commuter belt around towns and cities. 

Affordable to many or just few?

For Hyperloop to contribute to affordable living, the price needs to be low. According to Musk, this is achievable. For the route between San Francisco and Los Angeles, he forecast that US$6 billion of investment would be required to create the infrastructure. Each pod would be able to hold 28 passengers, according to his model, and pods would depart every 30 seconds.

The result would be the price of a one-way ticket sitting at US$20 per person. If similar prices were realised in countries such as the UK, where commuters can spend more than £3,000 (US$3,850) on an annual season ticket, this represents a saving of around £750 (US$960) per annum. 

Above: Artist's impression

Politicians in the UK have cited Hyperloop as a viable solution to many of the nation’s transportation and mobility woes. The Australian Parliament’s Committee on Infrastructure, Transport and Cities has also called on Australian Government to look at Hyperloop as a way to ease the tight housing market.

This would help workers in cities like Sydney move to homes that are twice the size and half the cost of city-centre accommodation, while remaining just 15 minutes away by Hyperloop. 

Can it be done?

Two companies have been working on making this concept a reality, Hyperloop Transportation Technologies (HyperloopTT) and Virgin Hyperloop One. Both claim that this new mode of transportation could be a reality within three years. Early experiments are already taking place on the stretch of desert between Abu Dhabi and Dubai.

There has also been the development, by Musk, of The Boring Company, a tunnelling venture that would allow Hyperloops to be built underground. Various city councils across the US have reportedly given him the go-ahead to drill tunnels.

The dirt that is excavated during the drilling process will not be wasted, either. Musk has created Boring Brick, which will sell bricks made from the dirt to the construction industry for 10 cents each. They will be free for developers of affordable housing. 

Hyperloop is not a direct fix for housing’s affordability crisis. Whilst it may not bring down the cost of living in cities like San Francisco, it could help to reduce demand in popular markets and give citizens commuting from satellite towns and cities a better quality of life.

The Knight Frank Affordable Housing team works on behalf of developers, Local Authorities, Registered Providers and private landowners in all aspects of Affordable Housing.