Berkshire Property Market: 3 Districts Break Price Record
- Berkshire house prices are 2.4% higher than one year ago, and higher than the national average.
- Land Registry data shows sales volume is still well below normal levels.
- Property prices in the South East peaked in August and have been falling since.
- Windsor & Maidenhead remains the most expensive district to buy a home in Berkshire. Slough is the cheapest.
- Slough has the greatest 10-year property price growth, followed by Wokingham and Reading.
- Across the South East, house prices are expected to increase 17.6% over the 5 years to 2029 (Savills).
Are house prices dropping in Berkshire?
Average house prices across Berkshire have risen 2.4% since last year, just ahead of England and Wales with 3% house price growth in the same period.
Average house prices in the South East are yet to beat their peak of £388,928 in October 2022.
Worst September for Berkshire property sales on record
September was Berkshire's quietest on record for property sales. Monthly property sales in Berkshire have only been this low during the 2008/9 economic crash, the 2020 pandemic, and in July of 2021.
Will there be a UK recession in 2025?
The Quarterly Economic Forecast (QEF) predicts the UK economy will grow by 1.3% in 2025 and 1.5% in 2026. Source: British Chambers of Commerce (BCC).
This, however, is well below the pre-pandemic average. NEISR estimate that Britain's poorest households will not recover fully until 2027.
How does the Bank of England affect the Berkshire Housing Market?
Borrowing has been returning to a more affordable level, but very slowly. The February cut to 4.5% means that mortgage rates will follow.
Thousands of remortgagers and home buyers in Berkshire and the rest of the country have been waiting with bated breath for the cost of borrowing to come down, allowing them to buy, move or remortgage. As this allows the market to begin moving again, prices will be driven gently upward, particularly in more affordable areas.
Capital Economics forecast that the base rate will fall to 3.5% by early 2026.
Are you thinking of buying a property in Berkshire?
Windsor & Maidenhead has the most active property market
House prices in Windsor & Maidenhead have not dampened the property market, as sales volume remains relatively strong, at 88% of the transactions from the same month a year previous. Reading (£336,869) saw just 54% of the sales volume YoY; however, in comparison to 2022 (before the volume of property transactions crashed) Reading has the highest relative sales volume of any Berkshire district.
Caversham (£496,051) is a village and suburb of Reading, north of the town across the Thames, balancing independent character with picturesque bridges, linking it to the main town.
What are the wealthiest towns in Berkshire?
Windsor & Maidenhead has the highest average house prices in Berkshire, but flats and maisonettes are most expensive in Wokingham. Windsor is officially the UK town with the most millionaires (Bracknell News), and homes in Cookham Dean are the priciest, at £1,419,825 (Rightmove).
Cookham Dean is an idyllic village on the river, home of painter Stanley Spencer, and the birthplace of Kenneth Grahame's Wind in the Willows.
Also in Windsor and Maidenhead are Sunningdale (£802,412), Old Windsor (£623,550), Datchet (£526,453) and Eton Wick (£453,857).
How expensive is Berkshire?
Average property prices in Berkshire vary by district from £333,518 to £554,099.
Where is the cheapest place to live in Berkshire?
The cheapest average house price by district is in Slough at £333,518.
Slough is a major trading centre with high diversity and employment, just 24 miles from London and well connected by the M4, rail and national cycle network.
Also in the district of Slough is the cosmopolitan suburb of Langley (£502,111).
The cheapest detached houses are in Slough, while the cheapest semi-detached and terraced houses are in West Berkshire (towns include Newbury (£366,908), Hungerford (£401,378) and Pangbourne (£746,200)), and the cheapest flats and maisonettes are in Windsor & Maidenhead.
Records broken for house prices in Bracknell Forest, Slough and Wokingham
House prices across the South East and wider country peaked, below their 2022 record, in August 2024 and have been falling since then. This follows seasonal trends and we can expect property price growth into the summer.
Property prices in Bracknell Forest (£394,734), Slough and Wokingham reached record highs in the summer of 2024. Reading, West Berkshire (£402,611) and Windsor & Maidenhead failed to reach their 2022 records. Savills predict 3% average growth across the South East for 2025, so we expect more records set for Berkshire this summer.
Bracknell Forest property prices soar
Bracknell Forest saw year-on-year growth of a massive 5%, far ahead of the 3% average for England & Wales. Windsor and Maidenhead (+2.8%), Wokingham (+2.5%) and Slough (+2.2%) all outperformed the average growth for the South East (+1.4%). Even West Berkshire (+1.3 %) and Reading (+0.3%) saw modest price growth.
Long-term Berkshire property market investment
Affordability and job opportunities have driven long-term price growth with Slough proving the best long-term investment in Berkshire. House prices in Slough are 50% higher than they were ten years ago; followed by the second most expensive district, Wokingham (+42%), Reading (+40%), Bracknell forest (+39%) and West Berkshire (+35%).
Long-term growth has been slowest in the most expensive district, Windsor & Maidenhead, at 31%. All of Berkshire falls behind the national average (+52%) as the South East has cooled off following extraordinary growth in 2021-2022.
Despite fairly average year-on-year growth, buying in Slough may be your best long-term investment for the county. If you'd prefer something more rural, consider digging deeper, for more expensive Wokingham.
Wokingham (£487,930) is a market town blending town and countryside living, often voted one of the best places to live in the UK. Also within the district of Wokingham is the neighbouring village of Twyford (£578,432) on the River Loddon.
New homes in Berkshire are now 41% more expensive than existing properties
Brand new houses have always been more expensive than existing ones. But the difference has been growing at unprecedented speed through 2024 and now stands at £153,944 in Berkshire.
If you exclude newly-built properties, you can see price growth has been faltering since the end of 2022 and last year's 'strong' uptick in the graph at the top of this page is being exaggerated by expensive new builds.
This is great news for hopeful first-time buyers who are looking to buy a second-hand home and are still scraping their deposit together, ready to get on the property ladder.
New builds lose up to around 7% of their value after purchase, much like a new car the minute you drive it away (source: Toomey Legal, Sloth Move).
"This disparity in price will fuel nearby house prices up as estate agents use these potentially over-priced local comparables when setting sale prices for existing properties in the local area." - Andrew Boast, CEO.
This means new builds are not quite the same value for money as they may first seem; however, they are built to modern building regulations, which means they are more energy efficient than older homes.
This is increasingly important with long-term plans to make an EPC rating of C or above compulsory on all rental properties by 2030.
What is the safest town in Berkshire?
Winkfield is the safest parish in Berkshire (average property at £1,325,562), with Sunninghill and Ascot (average property at £788,692) being the safest parish with a town.
The towns of Earley, Finchampstead and Sandhurst also feature in the top-ten.
Should I buy a house in Berkshire?
Berkshire is an excellent location to buy a home:
- Traditional market towns
- Proximity to the capital
- Excellent employment opportunities
- Beautiful countryside
- Prestigious Schools
- Range of local amenities
- River activities
House prices are rising, and the cost of borrowing continues to fall. If you can afford to buy before prices increase further, you'll likely be able to switch to a more affordable mortgage rate in a couple of years, by which point your investment will hopefully have appreciated in value.
Across the South East, house prices are expected to increase 17.6% over the 5 years to 2029 (Savills).
If you are renting and can afford to buy at the current rate of interest, this may be a much more desirable option than saving for a bigger deposit, as rents are still rising, whereas mortgage rates are likely to fall.
However, if you are stretching your budget to buy in Berkshire, consider saving for a bit longer or opting for a more affordable county. If the base rate rises again, you may be unable to keep up with your monthly repayments when your fixed rate comes to an end.
Worse yet, if prices fall, you could end up in negative equity, owing more money than your home is worth. Buying a home with a mortgage always comes with risks. Your home may be repossessed if you do not keep up repayments on your mortgage.
If you are ready to buy a house in Berkshire or the surrounding area, we can handle your purchase with a dedicated SAM Conveyancing Consultant to manage your transaction alongside one of our hand-selected panel solicitors.
"The widely anticipated reduction in the base rate to 4.5% in February paves the way for more affordable mortgage rates, stimulating greater activity in the market. This will be particularly useful for first-time buyers and remortgages."
- Andrew Boast FMAAT MIC
CEO and Author | SAM Conveyancing
Sources: Latest data from - Gov.UK, Bank of England, UK House Price Index, Savills.
Caragh is an excellent writer and copy editor of books, news articles and editorials. She has written extensively for SAM for a variety of conveyancing, survey, property law and mortgage-related articles.
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