I have recently spoken to several of our landlords who have asked whether now is the time to invest in Buy to Lets in Maidenhead with Crossrail coming in the near future. In order for me to answer this question let me tell you a bit about Crossrail:
Crossrail will deliver a major new heavy-duty suburban rail service for London and the South-East. It will connect the City, Canary Wharf, the West End and Heathrow Airport to commuter areas east and west of the capital.
Crossrail will provide easier, quicker and more direct travel opportunities across the capital for the first time via new lines and tunnels. The project will ease crowding on many existing tube and rail routes.
Crossrail is the biggest engineering project in Europe and forms a major part of the Mayor’s Transport Strategy. Crossrail will connect 37 stations, including Heathrow airport and Maidenhead in the west with Canary Wharf, Abbey Wood and Shenfield in the east.
The main civil engineering construction works for Crossrail are planned to complete in 2017. Fit-out of stations and testing will continue afterwards. It is expected that Crossrail services will commence on the central section by late 2018 followed by a phased introduction of services along the rest of the Crossrail route over several months
In light of the above, Cross rail will allow tenants to move in and out of London more easily and quickly. Maidenhead, with its parks, great bars and central location, will enable people to live in great surroundings, and only be 42 minutes from heart of the City of London. With rents in London being £2500 to £3000 per month for a two bed apartment but season tickets being only around £3,500 per year, demand should increase tremendously, when the tenants see how quick and easy it is to get in and out of London. This can only mean rents will rise tremendously, with an increase in yields.
Therefore with property prices still being reasonable in Maidenhead and with several sources predicting a sharp increase in property prices, I think now is definitely time to jump on the band wagon. As the phrase goes ‘you snooze you lose’.
I think we might be looking at the next St.Albans, which everyone knows has been one of Outer London’s star performers in buy to let investment.
