Berkshire’s cheapest places to buy a home have been ranked by average house prices that also reveal the most sought-after towns.
House-hunters can see a vast difference in what they’ll need from the best bargain neighbourhoods to the most expensive in the region in the list below.
Spanning across Reading, Bracknell Forest, West Berkshire and Slough, prices for homes are compared by local authority areas.
Figures have been compiled by metal roofing manufacturer Cardinal Steels and Online Marketing Surgery for their House Price Report.
Experts used the House Price Index from the Office for National Statistics, comparing year-on-year averages between January 2023 to January 2024. It shows that the cheapest homes were in Reading, followed by Tilehurst with average prices of £331K and £337K respectively.
The most in-demand homes in the past year were in some of the cheapest neighbourhoods.
The highly populated areas of Berkshire are Reading with 350,000 residents, Bracknell (125,200), Newbury (44,171) and Wokingham with 185,000 residents.
The least populated areas in Berkshire are Hamstead Norreys with 879 residents, Bray (8,425), Charvil (3,163) and Ascot with 11,603 residents.
The most expensive area for properties is Ascot, with it’s Royal background and celebrity-studded neighbourhood. The average price to buy a house in the Ascot and Sunninghill area is £984,205.
The villages of Bisham and Charvil come in second and third spot respectively for the most expensive areas.
The average home in the village of Bray near Maidenhead will cost you £600,742, whilst properties in Ascot could set you back at £984,205.
A spokesman for the Online Marketing Survey said: “With constant inflation rises, the opportunity for first time buyers to get a mortgage offer that is affordable and reasonable is extremely difficult. This is leaving people either not moving out at all or paying to rent a place instead.”
Berkshire areas average house prices
Average House Price (January 2023 – January 2024)
Reading (RG1)
£331,913
Tilehurst (RG30)
£337,750
Bracknell (RG12)
£361,096
Newbury (RG14)
£382,663
Thatcham (RG19)
£385,921
Whitely (RG2)
£395,330
Colcot Row (RG31)
£425,567
Sandhurst (GU47)
£430,218
Woodley (RG5)
£445,630
Earley (RG6)
£487,603
Hampstead Norreys (RG18)
£487,955
Colnbrook (SL3)
£492,659
Hungerford (RG17)
£497,822
Binfield (RG42)
£506,403
Aldermaston (RG7)
£514,470
Winnersh (RG41)
£536,767
Crowthrone (RG45)
£552,641
Wokingham (RG40)
£579,531
Caversham (RG4)
£594,733
Bray (SL6)
£600,742
Chieveley (RG20)
£667,583
Charvil (RG10)
£686,816
Bisham (SL7)
£789,190
Ascot (SL5)
£984,205
By Jonathan Stempel
(Reuters) – Warren Buffett on Saturday moved to reassure investors that his conglomerate Berkshire Hathaway would serve them well over the long term, even as he mourned the recent passing of his longtime second-in-command Charlie Munger.
In his widely-read annual letter to Berkshire shareholders, which accompanied a record $37.4 billion full-year operating profit, Buffett said his more than $900 billion conglomerate has become a fortress capable of withstanding even an unprecedented financial disaster.
“Berkshire is built to last,” Buffett wrote.
Buffett also tempered expectations for Berkshire’s stock price, saying the company’s huge size left “no possibility of eye-popping performance.”
“There remain only a handful of companies in this country capable of truly moving the needle at Berkshire, and they have been endlessly picked over by us and by others,” Buffett wrote. “Some we can value; some we can’t.”
But the 93-year-old billionaire also assured investors that Vice Chairman Greg Abel, his designated successor, was “in all respects ready to be CEO of Berkshire tomorrow.”
Buffett also saved his most heartfelt words for Munger, who died in November at age 99.
He called Munger the “architect” of Berkshire, with Buffett being only the “general contractor,” and reminded investors how Munger pushed him to buy wonderful businesses at fair prices instead of fair businesses at wonderful prices.
Berkshire’s “extreme fiscal conservatism,” including reluctance to make major acquisitions at inflated prices, is one reason Buffett has let the Omaha, Nebraska-based company’s cash stake swell to a record $167.6 billion.
“In a way his relationship with me was part older brother, part loving father,” Buffett wrote, referring to Munger. “Even when he knew he was right, he gave me the reins, and when I blundered he never–never–reminded me of my mistake.”
Cathy Seifert, a CFRA Research analyst who rates Berkshire “buy,” said Buffett tried to show how Berkshire could withstand rocky shoals, even after Munger helped him transform a once-failing textile company into a colossus mirroring the broader economy.
“Nothing is perfect,” she said. “He tried to show there is a succession plan, and Berkshire would stick to its knitting.”
Buffett likened Berkshire’s caution in making acquisitions, with the stock market now routinely setting record highs, to an insurance policy against the kind of hurried, unwise business decisions that would have irked Munger.
“I have a sense that Berkshire wants to make Charlie proud,” said Thomas Russo, a portfolio manager and longtime shareholder at Gardner, Russo & Quinn in Lancaster, Pennsylvania.
GEICO BOOSTS RESULTS
Buffett’s letter was accompanied by Omaha, Nebraska-based Berkshire’s quarterly and annual results.
Operating profit from its dozens of insurance, railroad, industrial, energy, and retail businesses rose 28% in the quarter to $8.48 billion and 21% for the year to a record $37.4 billion.
Insurance businesses such as Geico benefited from improved underwriting quality and higher investment income as interest rates rose, offsetting wage pressures at the BNSF railroad and wildfire losses at Berkshire Hathaway Energy.
“Results reflect the value of holding a diversified collection of operating businesses,” said Jim Shanahan, an Edward Jones analyst with a “hold” rating on Berkshire.
Investment gains in Berkshire’s $354 billion equity portfolio, including stocks such as Apple, American Express, Bank of America and Coca-Cola, helped Berkshire generate a $96.2 billion annual profit.
The amount reflects accounting rules that require Berkshire to report gains in stocks it hasn’t sold, however, making it “worse-than-useless” to investors according to Buffett.
Berkshire’s caution, and one of the reasons for its record cash stake, was reflected in its having sold about $24 billion more stocks than it bought in 2023.
Results also included some of Occidental Petroleum’s earnings, which reflected Berkshire’s approximately 28% stake in the oil company.
Buffett said he expects Berkshire will keep that stake “indefinitely,” along with its stakes in five Japanese trading houses: Itochu, Marubeni, Mitsubishi, Mitsui and Sumitomo.
Berkshire’s businesses also include industrial parts and chemical companies, a big real estate brokerage, and retail brands such as Dairy Queen, Fruit of the Loom and See’s candies.
(Reporting by Jonathan Stempel in New York; Editing by Ira Iosebashvili and Diane Craft)
A story about Queen Mary’s Dolls’ House was among our most read this week in Berkshire.
A variety of local issues were featured on the BBC News website, BBC Radio Berkshire and South Today.
We have picked five stories to keep you up to date.
Lifts to be installed at Tilehurst railway station
Lifts are set to be installed at a railway station after years of campaigning by local residents.
The lifts at Tilehurst Railway Station near Reading, Berkshire will allow better access to passengers with wheelchairs, pushchairs or heavy luggage.
Currently platforms 2, 3 and 4 are only accessible using steps.
Refugees move into new homes thanks to £9m housing project
Displaced families from Ukraine and Afghanistan will begin moving into new homes this week thanks to a £9m housing project.
West Berkshire Council aims to provide 27 new homes for refugees who arrived under government resettlement schemes but do not have suitable accommodation.
Seven houses and flats have been purchased across the county so far.
Queen Mary’s Dolls’ House treasures on show at Windsor Castle
A collection of tiny treasures from Queen Mary’s Dolls’ House has been put on show to mark the 100th anniversary of its creation.
Featuring a miniature grand piano, the Crown Jewels and a vacuum cleaner, the exhibition is on display at Windsor Castle in Berkshire.
The scale replica of an Edwardian residence was built for King George V’s consort as a gift from the nation after World War One.
Date set for 1960s decaying car park demolition
A date to knock down a 1960s multi-storey concrete car park in a town centre has been set.
The 734-space Broadway Car Park in Maidenhead, Berkshire, shut over safety concerns in December 2022.
Water was found to be eroding the reinforced steel and cracks had caused concrete to fall from the ceiling.
Tankers draw groundwater from flood-hit areas
A fleet of tankers was brought in to draw groundwater from flood-hit areas of Berkshire.
The tankers were being used in the Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead area, including Wraysbury where floods forced vulnerable residents from their homes.
The council said the tankers were sucking water up where the water table remains very high, “restricting the ability for groundwater to recede”.
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