Maidenhead Property Market Crisis as New House Building drops by 36.84%

One of the key factors that determine the price of anything is the demand and supply of the item that is being bought and sold. When it comes to property, demand can change overnight, but it takes years and years to build new properties, thus increasing the supply.

The Conservatives have pledged to build over 1 million homes by 2020. I am of the opinion that as a country, irrespective of which party, we have not built enough homes for decades, and if the gap between the number of households forming and the number of new homes being built continues to grow, we are in danger of not being able to house our children or grand children. I believe the country is past the time for another grand statement of ambition by another Housing Minister.

To give you an idea of the sorts of numbers we are talking about, in the Windsor and Maidenhead Borough Council area in 2006, 500 properties were built. In 2008 that rose to 550 and two years later in 2009, it peaked at 570. By 2014, that figure had dropped by 36.84% to 360 properties built.

The outcome of too few homes being built in Maidenhead means the working people of the town are being priced out of buying their first home and renters are not getting the quality they deserve for their money. The local authority isn’t building the estates they were after the war and housing associations are having their budgets tightened year on year, meaning they have less money to spend on building new properties. Many Maidenhead youngsters are living with their parents for longer because they cannot afford to get onto the housing ladder and growing families are unable to buy the bigger homes they need.

To compound the issue of a lack of sufficient new housing in Maidenhead we also have the impact of Crossrail to contend with. As our rail connections to London improve, so does the attraction of Maidenhead to the London workforce, who is also getting priced out of the housing market. 

Maidenhead has long been a commuting hub into London with its excellent rail links, but by 2019 when Crossrail arrives we will be, to all intents and purpose, living in a London suburb. This will do nothing but increase demand for housing which is already in short supply – If we don’t see a sharp increase in investment in new house building to counteract this then I believe we will see house prices in this area continue to spiral upwards, just as they have done in London. Great news for investors, but not such good news for those struggling to get on the housing ladder.

If you are looking to buy a house, either as an investment or as a first step onto the property ladder, my advice would be to not delay as prices are only going in one direction – Up!. One source of further info on all of these issues, where you will find other articles similar to this on the Maidenhead property market, is the Maidenhead Property Blog.