Only 16% of Maidenhead Properties have less than 3 bedrooms - Problem or Opportunity?

The orthodox way of classifying property in the UK is to look at the number of bedrooms rather than its size in square metres.

In previous articles, I have analysed the Maidenhead housing stock into bedrooms and type of property, but now have I cross-referenced type against bedrooms. These figures for the Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead area make fascinating reading. It shows that only 16% of all properties in the area have less than 3 bedrooms. I was genuinely surprised at the low numbers of one and two bed properties, particularly 2 bed semis detached houses, especially as tenants like the smaller one and two bed properties in Maidenhead.

	Detached	Semi-detached	Terraced (including end-terrace)	Flat
1 bedroom	42	58	45	493
2 bedrooms	228	740	1,168	2,312
3 bedrooms	1,945	6,087	3,875	501
4 bedrooms	5,646	2,613	1,028	63
5 or more bedrooms	4,018	704	171	46

On top of this, there has been an increase in the numbers of properties on the market over the last 12 months, and in particular an increase in the proportion of 1 & 2 bedroom properties available now compared to last year. There is now almost double the amount of 1 & 2 bed properties on the market than at this time last year. Typically we see somewhere between 0.5 % - 2.5 % of housing stock on the market. In the Maidenhead market at the moment we have 6.6% of 1-bedroom stock and 4.6% of 2-bedroom stock on the market.

It can quite clearly be seen from the graph above that more Maidenhead properties have become available, which can only be good news for Maidenhead first time buyers and Maidenhead buy to let landlords looking for a bargain (especially post Brexit) as property prices have stopped rising at the silly rates they were 12/18 months ago.

The reasons behind this change are quite clear. For several years Maidenhead buy-to-let investors have been the only buyers at the lower end (starter homes) of the market, as they have been enticed by high tenant demand and attractive returns. Some Maidenhead landlords believe their window of opportunity has started to close with the new tax regime for landlords, whilst it already appears to be opening wider for first-time buyers. This is great news for first time buyers ... but one final note for Maidenhead landlords ... all is not lost ... you can still pick up bargains, you just need to be a lot more savvy and do your homework ... one source of such information with articles like this is the Maidenhead property market Blog.

Oldershaw Mews, Maidenhead - 3 Bed Town House - Great Returns on Offer!

Good afternoon, I have just seen this 3 storey town come on the market with Mark Carter for £375K - If Homes of Multiple Occupancy (HMOs) are your thing then this is well worth looking at - With potential to increase the number of bedrooms to 5 plus, the potential returns on offer are not be ignored. If this was converted to the right specification then each room could be let for between £500 and £600 per month.... I will let you do the sums! 

Take a look at the link below for more pics....

http://www.zoopla.co.uk/for-sale/details/41642984

Post Brexit – What will happen to Maidenhead Property Prices in the next 12 months?

Even the most sane person in Britain has to admit the Brexit vote will, in one shape or another, affect the UK Property market. Excluding central London which is another world, most commentators are saying prices will be affected by around 10%. So looking at the commentators’ thoughts in more detail, property values in Maidenhead will be 10% lower than they would have been if we hadn’t voted to leave the EU.

As the average value of a property in the Windsor and Maidenhead Council area is £490,000, this means property values are set to drop for the average Maidenhead property by £49,000 … batten down the hatches .. soup kitchens and mega recession here we come ..it’s going to get rough.

.. but before we all go into panic mode in Maidenhead .. the devil is always in the detail

Look at the phrase again, and I have highlighted the relevant part “Property values in Maidenhead will be 10% lower than they would have been if we hadn’t voted to leave the EU”

Property values today, according to the Land Registry are 16.12% higher than a year ago in the Windsor and Maidenhead Council area. The 12 months before that they rose by 11.79% and the 12 months before that, they rose by 8%. If we hadn’t voted to leave, I believe on these figures, we could have safely assumed Maidenhead House prices would have been 12% higher by the Summer of 2017.

… and that’s the point, we won’t see a house price crash in Maidenhead, it’s just that house prices in a years time will only be 2% higher than they are now (ie 12% less the 10% lower figure because of Brexit). Let’s look at the historic figures and how that compares to today’s figures for the Windsor and Maidenhead Council area and Maidenhead as a whole.

• Average Value of a property 20 years ago                       £  96,500
• Average Value of a property 10 years ago                       £284,500
• Average Value of a property 2 years ago                         £377,500
• Average Value of a property 1 year ago                           £422,000
• Average Value of a property today                                  £490,000
• Projected Value of a property in 12 months’ time            £500,000

Therefore, I believe that whilst prices are likely to remain flat for a while, we should still see a modest increase of £10k in the average value of a Maidenhead property in 12 months’ time.

That’s not to say Maidenhead property prices might not dip slightly in the run up to Christmas (in fact they always have done just about every year since the year 2000 and most of those were boom years) .. but in 12 months time this is my considered opinion of where Maidenhead property values will be.. and looking at the historic prices, even if I (and many other property market commentators) are wrong and they drop 10% from TODAY’S figure .. in the whole scheme of things, we have been through a Credit Crunch, Black Monday and 15% interest rates over the last 20 to 30 years .. and still Maidenhead house prices have always bounced back. 

Whilst the UK's vote for Brexit has created an uncertainty in the Maidenhead housing market, there is no need to panic and prospective buyers should merely use common sense about their purchases. I always say to people to be prudent and if you are taking out a mortgage, at some stage during the life of that mortgage, circumstances will be difficult. We won’t have a 2008 Credit crunch fire sale of properties because after the Mortgage Market Review, which took place in the Spring of 2013, mortgage borrowers are not as highly leveraged this time around.  As a result of this, with any luck there will not be too many distressed sales, which cause widespread price reductions.

For more thoughts on the Maidenhead Property market .. visit the Maidenhead Property Blog