The continued expansion of London’s cycle hire scheme will benefit home sellers living near bike docking stations – and attract potential buyers to living in previously less well-connected areas – according to estate agent Marsh & Parsons.

Santander is to assume sponsorship of the ‘Boris Bike’ programme from April and is committed to further growing and developing the scheme, which already offers Londoners the use of 11,500 bikes across more than 700 docking stations. Transport for London has identified a further 1,000 potential docking stations, to materialise by early 2016.

In much the same way that proximity to a tube station has long increased the attractiveness and saleability of properties in the capital – as well as the actual cash value – Marsh & Parsons has reported a rise in property buyers enquiring about local bike docking points and expects this interest to continue to increase as the scheme achieves greater prominence.

Tom Crabtree, Sales Manager for Marsh & Parsons’ Clapham office, said: “South London has long had a core of cycling commuters, with Cycle Superhighways 7 and 8 making for easy access to the City and Westminster respectively.”

However, he added: “As with the tube network – where the vast majority of stations are north of the river – South London hasn’t been afforded anywhere near the same number of docking stations as the other side of the Thames. But hopefully the expansion plans will restore some of this imbalance and help open up some relatively inaccessible areas south of the river.”