More succinct way of getting a registry value as a string than (Get-ItemProperty $key $valueName)._VALUENAME_?

The method for getting a value in a registry key from PowerShell is:

Get-ItemProperty HKLM:\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion CommonFilesDir

However, that command returns some extra properties I don't usually want:

CommonFilesDir : C:\Program Files\Common Files
PSPath         : Microsoft.PowerShell.Core\Registry::HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion
PSParentPath   : Microsoft.PowerShell.Core\Registry::HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows
PSChildName    : CurrentVersion
PSDrive        : HKLM
PSProvider     : Microsoft.PowerShell.Core\Registry

I just want the actual value, a string in this case. To do that I have to use the more verbose:

$commonFilesDir = (Get-ItemProperty HKLM:\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion CommonFilesDir).CommonFilesDir

Other than writing my own alias, is there a way of not writing the property name twice and getting a string?

I could run the following command, but it returns a PSObject:

Get-ItemProperty HKLM:\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion | Select CommonFilesDir