As the UK, and indeed the worldwide audience, returns to normality after the royal wedding on Saturday there is still much focus on Windsor. This is not an area of the UK which has received any real exposure to the US although but with an audience of 1.9 billion people for the wedding, the spotlight is certainly on the Queens neighbourhood. After the wedding of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle at Windsor Castle St Georges Chapel what does the world now know about Windsor?
Location
Windsor is just 30 minutes from London Paddington station by train, on the doorstep of the M3 and M4, 15 minutes from Heathrow and 6 miles from the M25. It is therefore no surprise that property in the Windsor area has been in demand for some time offering easy access to London without London property prices. Contrary to popular belief this is “not a multi-million pound town” according to local estate agents and there are some fairly narrow property price bands.
Properties in Windsor
There are a lot of one-bedroom flats in Windsor which start at around £300,000. The fact the flats are part of Victorian terraced housing ensures that property prices are not necessarily susceptible to the massive gain seen in some areas of London. The main property market in Windsor seems to be between the £700,000 and £900,000 price band with demand still relatively strong according to Emma Smith at Strutt and Parker estate agents. As we touched on above, many people are now starting to cash in on their “London premium” with areas such as Windsor, a hop, skip and a jump from London on their radar.
There is also demand from overseas buyers but this tends to be towards the higher end of the market with the Crossrail link, due to go live in 2019, yet another selling point. However, what became obvious in light of the US invasion of Windsor ahead of the royal wedding was that the American audience had no idea where it was. Seasoned reporters from the US admitted they thought Windsor was in London and were surprised to learn there were 30 minutes from the capital of the UK.
Limited newbuilds available
Some might automatically assume that the presence of the Queen and the Royal family in the Windsor area was the reason for a lack of newbuilds although this is not necessarily the case. Local estate agents put the lack of newbuilds down to the River Thames and Windsor Great Park. As a consequence Windsor tends to be dominated by redevelopments as opposed to new developments. It will be interesting to see how the recent focus on Windsor impacts visitor numbers to the region and the local property market.
Could this prompt more US visitors?
Now that a US citizen has married into the Royal family this is likely to prompt greater interest in areas such as Windsor. The relatively weak pound, compared to the dollar, also offers what could be a short-term window of opportunity as Brexit negotiations continue.