So many people have been involved in building new houses in Devon. But, as we can’t afford to buy the houses we build this happens:
Investors buy houses, some for holidays and some for renting to higher earners. They get rented and the money floods to elsewhere. This forces the prices up. People that need council housing in full or part-time work on the minimum wage and above cannot get housing.
Other people, say from London, desperate to move as houses are cheaper come here and find there are little to no jobs for them. Plus the locals get upset because they are in the fight for jobs.
My father is cornish but other people don’t like me as they see me as a Londoner not cornish even though I have never lived in London. Also, I couldn’t anyway because it is too expensive. This is Devon but there are cornish here too because they come up from Cornwall to find work. Cornwall is much poorer.
Summary
The housing investors (companies and private investors in multiple house purchasing) are forcing the prices up when others cannot afford to buy housing in general.
Other Notes
A lot of people I spoke to on-site had other aspirations in life but just about everyone I observed are hardworking people. Not everyone is on a bad wage in the building trade but competition for work is a difficult thing. Also, so long as the work holds out.
There is the season issue and continuous weeks of rain that causes some delays. This is especially the case for bricklayers. So they charge quite a lot but have to cover for the heavier rain and low temperatures (< 3 deg C) when bricks cannot be laid.
Errata
7th Nov 2021 – Revised wording to clearify.