Last weekend’s formal opening of two show homes at Wilton Park, site of the former Ministry of Defence language school in Beaconsfield Old Town, resulted in nine sales.

The long-awaited launch had originally been scheduled for last summer. The first date had to be cancelled on the day, a couple of hours before the planned opening ceremony when the site was flooded by torrential rain following a heatwave.

By lunchtime the temporary car park for guests’ cars was underwater.

Parkland either side of the narrow drive leading to the former MoD buildings would have been turned into a quagmire, leaving guests stranded in a sea of mud if the event had gone ahead.

Subsequent attempts to rearrange the ribbon cutting were blighted by Covid but now nine months after the launch was originally planned, Wilton Park is well and truly back on the map. It’s open for business essentially for residents who live there but also for the wider community to enjoy the many amenities.

Its recent history is a lesson in spotting potential. The 100-acre site was bought by Inland Homes, the Beaconsfield-based developer from the MoD, in 2014. Bewley came on board in 2020. They’re committed to building 184 new homes.

Eventually 304 new homes will be built at Wilton Park including 79 officially designated as affordable plus another 46 which were there when the development was bought by the two developers and will be retained under existing planning regs.

A spokesman said:“Both companies have worked alongside the council to ensure that the former MoD site will be a fitting residential addition to this sought after part of Buckinghamshire.”

Hamptons’ Beaconsfield office is the agent.

  • Spiralling house prices reached an annual rate of 11.2 per cent last month. It was the sharpest rise since June last year and the most bullish start to a year for the house market for 17 years.”

This week’s news from the Nationwide Building Society will be an early Valentine present for homeowners but a body blow for aspiring first time buyers [there’s always a downside, isn’t there?]

After taking seasonal factors into account, the Nationwide says property values across the country have been rising by an average of 0.8 per cent a month for six consecutive months.

January 2022 was the best start to a year for 17 years according to the building society’s chief economist Robert Gardner. Make hay while the sun shines. Clouds are building up.

“Housing demand has remained robust,” says Mr Gardner. “Mortgage approvals for house purchase have continued to run slightly above pre-pandemic levels, despite the surge in activity in 2021 as a result of the stamp duty holiday which encouraged buyers to bring forward their transactions to avoid additional tax.”

However the economic outlook is still uncertain. Warns the expert.The property market is expected to slow this year due to the price limit of what most buyers can afford.

Mr Gardner points out: “For example a 10 per cent deposit on a typical first-time buyer home is now equivalent to 56 per cent of total gross annual earnings, a record high. Similarly a typical mortgage payment as a share of take-home pay is now above the long run average despite mortgage rates remaining close to all-time lows.”