August 2026
I live in Windsor. I see the prices every day. The average detached house in the town hit £720,000 last month. That is up 4% from last year. Terraced houses are not much cheaper at £490,000. The problem is simple. Wages in the area have not kept up. A household needs a combined income of at least £90,000 to buy a basic three-bed house. Most people here do not earn that. The rental market is just as grim. A one-bed flat goes for £1,100 a month. Two beds are £1,400. That is more than half of many people’s take-home pay. The local council is building some affordable homes near the town centre. That is good. But it will take years to make a dent. The main issue is that Windsor is a commuter town for London. People who work in the City come here and pay cash. That pushes prices up. Locals get pushed out. I do not see that changing soon. The only way to fix it is to build more houses. But nobody wants to build on the green belt. So the market stays broken.
Paul