The article cited below blames not only high house prices but also the fact that many sites in the city boundary are now snapped up for student housing (which is not counted in Local Plans). With more than 18,000 students that means that Exeter is bursting at the seams and when a site (green or brown) becomes available in the city, the University snaps it up, leading to the “town v gown” mentality common in most big university cities.
The number of student dwellings in the city rose from 1,495 in October 2009 to 2,975 in October 2014 – an increase of 98.99 per cent.
says the article.
Towns such as Cranbrook and Newton Abbott are therefore becoming dormitories and commuter belts for what EDDC is already calling “Greater Exeter” – meaning many people must take to their cars in East Devon to get to their jobs in Exeter and those same people use their cars to get to entertainment and leisure facilities in the city. Bus travel is being cut not expanded, so no help there.
With EDDC’s choice of high economic growth for our Local Plan this basically means we now have to dance to Exeter’s tune – the more jobs Exeter creates, the more houses we have to build. The more sites the University buys in the city, the more workers must find alternatives elsewhere.
East Devon Watch 
What is even more amazing is that the student accommodation being built isn’t affordable either!
You would think that students would be a democratic least able to afford high rents, however according to these newspaper articles, some of these new developments have rents that even working people might not be able to afford.
http://www.exeterexpressandecho.co.uk/Revealed-New-11-000-year-student-flats-Exeter-s/story-26250120-detail/story.html
http://www.exeterexpressandecho.co.uk/Exeter-students-queue-rent-luxury-flats-priced-15/story-26175631-detail/story.html
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3018510/Britain-s-poshest-student-digs-set-snapped-despite-1-000-month-rent-bills-degree-cost-100-000.html
LikeLike