Thursday, December 31, 2015

Bingham House Price Monopoly: How do Prices vary?



Whether you are a homeowner or landlord in Bingham, what would a Monopoly board look like today in the town? Property prices over the last 80 years have certainly increased beyond all recognition, so looking at the original board, I have substituted some of the original streets with the most expensive and least expensive locations in Bingham today.

Initially, I have focused on the NG13 postcode within Bingham only, looking at the Brown Squares on the board, the ‘new’ Old Kent Road in Bingham today would be Langdale Grove, with an average value £109,120 (per property) and Whitechapel Road would be Carnarvon Place, which would be worth £110,060. 

What about the posh dark blue squares of Park Lane and Mayfair? Again, looking at NG13, Park Lane would be Belvoir Vale Grove at £430,000 and Mayfair would be The Banks at £495,800. However, look a little further afield from the town but still within the NG13 postcode, and such roads as Aslockton Road in Scarrington would claim the Mayfair card at £627,300! 

Also, I can’t forget the train stations (my favourite squares), and over the last 12 months, the average price that property within a quarter mile of the station sold for was £221,900.
So that got me thinking what you would have had to have paid for a property in Bingham back in 1935, when the game originally came out?

  •          The average Bingham detached house today is worth £271,680 would have set you back 491 Pounds 11 shillings.
  •          The average Bingham semi detached house today is worth £183,260 would have set you back 331 Pounds 11 shillings and 5 old pence.
  •          The average Bingham terraced / town house today is worth £162,800 would have set you back 294 Pounds 11 shillings and 1 old pence.
  •          The average Bingham apartment today is worth £116,450 would have set you back 210 Pounds 13 shillings and 10 old pence.

Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this bit of fun, but underlying all this is one important fact. Property investing is a long game, which has seen impressive rises over the last 80 years. 

In my previous articles I have talked about what is happening on a month by month or year by year basis and if you are going to invest in the Bingham property market, you should consider the Bingham property you buy a medium to long term investment, because buy to let is pretty much what it sounds like – you buy a property in order to rent it out to tenants.

As I reminded a soon to be first time landlord from Car Colston the other week, buy to let in Bingham (as in other parts of the Country) is very different from owning your own home. When you become a Bingham landlord, you are in essence running a small business – one with important legal responsibilities. 

On that note, I want to remind landlords of the recent and future changes in legislation when it comes to buy to let. This year, rules have changed about tenant deposits, smoke and carbon monoxide detectors and early in the New Year, landlords will have responsibilities to do immigration checks on all their tenants. Failure to adhere to them will mean a minimum of heavy fines in the thousands or in some cases, prison ... it’s a mine field!  

That’s why I write the Bingham Property Blog, where it has an extensive library of articles like this one, where I talk about what is happening in the Bingham property market, what to buy (and sometimes not) in Bingham and everything else that is important to know as a Bingham landlord. Please visit the Bingham Property Blog or give me a call on 01949 714101.



Tuesday, December 29, 2015

Tidy Whatton 2 bed could give you a 5% return on your investment

This 2 bedroom semi detached property is very well appointed.  With 2 double bedrooms and a lovely garden, it would appeal to many different types of tenants.  Great location close to the A46 and A52, offering good links to Nottingham, Leicester, Newark and Grantham.

http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-56661458.html

         Picture 1  Picture 2  Picture 5  Picture 6

Thursday, December 24, 2015

Bargain Buy To Let in Calverton

This property is situated in a village location popular with tenants.  It looks to be in good order and is being marketed by Gascoines in Calverton for £ 109,950.  It should see a return of over 5% so is a great investment for any landlord, and a good choice for a first time investor.

http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-38500926.html


Image 1 of 12

Image 2 of 12: Kitchen aspect two

Image 3 of 12


Wednesday, December 23, 2015

The Bingham Property Market and £1,300,000,000,000,000,000 in loose change


The 5th of March 2009 was the date Mervyn King, the then Bank of England Governor, slashed UK interest rates to the unparalleled figure of 0.5%. 

In just under five months, starting on 8th October 2008, the rate had come down from 4.5% to that low figure, all in an attempt to ensure the British economy survived the worldwide credit crunch. Now as we deck the halls with boughs of holly nobody expected that, over six years later, rates would still be at that low level.

In the summer, people were predicting a rise in the New Year, yet now, some forecast it may remain the same for years to come the due to the issues in China.

If you added up everyone’s bank and building society savings in the UK, they would add up to £1,300,000,000,000,000,000 (that’s £1.3 trillion), most of which is earning a pittance in interest.  That is why more and more 40 and 50 year old Bingham landlords have been investing some of that cash into Bingham bricks and mortar, as they search for a low risk investment opportunity.

Buying a Bingham buy to let property isn’t risk free, but there are certainly things you can do to mitigate and lower one’s exposure to risk. You see by buying a rental property, it potentially offers a decent proposition in terms of being able to obtain attractive returns that beat inflation and savings accounts, yet without taking the levels of risk associated with stock markets.

The UK residential property market has long been the safest form of collateral for lenders of all varieties. Against a backdrop of a greatly changing economic environment, Bingham house prices have been extraordinarily robust, increasing by over 1715.3% between 1974 and today. Some will say there have been significant property price falls, namely in 1975, 1988 and 2008, yet each time after this has been followed by an upturn in property values. 

For the record, the stock markets in the same time frame only rose by 432.5%!

.. and that is the best thing about buy to let property. Unlike the stock market, with its unfathomable equities, shares and bonds, that nobody really understands (as they are controlled by some faceless whizzkid in Canary Wharf!) with a buy to let property, landlords can take control and understand their investment .. in fact you can touch and feel the bricks and mortar investment.

..  but before you go out and buy any old Bingham property, plenty of landlords still get it wrong. You have to be aware of your legal responsibilities when it comes to tenant safety, tenants deposits, energy certificates and in the new year, landlords will have the added responsibility of checking the immigration status of prospective tenants. Get it wrong and big fines and even prison is an option – but that’s why many agents use a letting agent to manage their property for them.

Next, you have to buy the right property at the right price. Recently I have seen some really heart breaking situations in Bingham and the immediate area, of people paying way too much for a property, only to lose out when they came to sell. 

One example that comes to mind is that of a property owner in a fairly new detached house on Medway Drive in Bingham .. a very well presented, three bed detached house, recently fully renovated, 86 sq metres inside (925 sq ft in old money) sold in December 2007 for £221,950. In the summer, it only obtained £211,000, a drop of 5% or 0.7% a year - a very disappointing result.


I cannot stress enough the importance of doing your homework. One source of information and advice is the Bingham Property Blog or please give me a call on 01949 714101 for an honest opinion on the Bingham property market.

Monday, December 21, 2015

Newton 3 bed for under £150,000 gives 5.4% return

For sale with Newton Fallowell this 3 bed in Newton looks to be in good order inside. This area is growing in popularity for those looking for close proximity to Nottingham combined with access to good schools in Bingham and Newton. 

Its an area that I believe will see good capital growth over the next 10 years as the area develops. 

If purchased at the asking price of £149,000 would easily achieve a return of  5.4%

http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-38616447.html

Thursday, December 17, 2015

Bingham Property Market 2015



Many landlords have been asking me my thoughts on the Bingham property market recently, and in particular, what is happening to property values. 

My calculations show property values in Bingham quite interestingly grew in the month of September by 0.2%.  When one looks at the annual growth, Bingham values are 4.3% higher (when comparing Sept 14 to Sept 15), impressive when you consider the annual growth of property values was only 3.7% per annum in June.  

On the other hand, there are signs that the fundamental growth of property values in Bingham has now peaked, despite those average property values being below levels recorded in 2007 (just before the 2008 crash).

Whilst the Bingham headline rate appears to be better, i.e. the year on year (Sept 14 to Sept 15) growth rate of 4.3% is obviously better than the 3.7 in June 14 to June 15), this impressive rise of Bingham property values masks the underlying truth in what is really happening to local property values in the town.  Throughout 2015, property values have been yo-yo like on a month by month basis, being quite volatile in nature.  For example,
·      
  •          September 2015               0.2% rise
  •          August 2015                     0.4% rise
  •          July 2015                         0.8% rise
  •          June 2015                        0.4% drop
  •          May 2015                         0.1% rise
  •          April 2015                        0.4% rise
  •          March 2015                      0.6% rise

This is in part due to seasonal factors, as well as mortgage approvals increasing over June and July and then falling by over 15% in August, according to the Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML).

The outlook for the Bingham property market remains positive against the foundations of low mortgage rates and growing consumer confidence. 

Talking to fellow property professionals in the town, demand for property has been showing signs of moderating in the final few months of 2015, which in turn will lead to a slight slowdown in the pace of house price growth in the run up to the festive season. You see, it is really important not to read too much into one month’s (September’s) headline figures.

Readers might be interested to note that before the 2008 property crash, all the UK region’s housing markets tended to move up and down in tandem like the Bingham Synchronised Swimming team at the Bingham Leisure Centre Swimming Pool!  Since then though, the Greater London property market took off like a rocket in 2009/10, whilst the rest of the UK only really started to grow in 2012/13, and even then that growth was a lot more modest than the Capital’s.  

I cannot stress enough the importance of doing your homework.  If you are considering investing in property please give me a call or pop into our office on the Market Place for honest, unbiased advice.


Wednesday, December 16, 2015

Could you grab a BTL deal this Christmas?

Having had a look at properties available for sale in Bingham, I noticed that the properties below are still on the market.  I have added them to my blog in the past and am shocked to see that they are still available.  Since they have been on the market for a while now, it may be the perfect time to put in a cheeky offer.


James Drive, Calverton:  

Nearly new properties are always popular with tenants, and still benefit from their NHBC guarantee:

http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-54832550.html









Trenchard Close, Newton: 
5.7% return on your investment, good transport links suiting professionals:

http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-51429157.html



Picture 1  Picture 2  Picture 6  Picture 10


Rockingham Grove, Bingham:
Property is in good order, popular area with tenants.  Will let easily:

http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-54309746.html

Picture 1  Picture 4  Picture 6  Picture 9

Thursday, December 10, 2015

Values of Bingham Terraced Houses smash through the £190/sqft barrier




The Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML) latest snapshot of the buy to let mortgage market shows us that buy to let landlords haven’t been put off by the Chancellors announcements on the way buy to let’s are taxed.

Last month, the CML stated £1.4billion was borrowed by UK landlords to purchase 10,500 buy to let properties, up 26.5% from the same month in 2014, when only 8,300 properties were bought with a buy to let mortgage. Go back two years and the number of buy to let mortgages used for purchasing (again not re-mortgaging) is 36.4% higher! Even more interesting has been the fact that the average amount borrowed has risen as well. The average buy to let mortgage last month was £133,330, up from £128,480 a year ago.

In Bingham, I am speaking to more and more landlords, be they seasoned professional landlords or FTL’s (first time landlords), as they read reports that the Bingham rental market is doing reasonably well, with rents and property values rising.  Interestingly, one landlord recently asked how much he should be paying per square foot (more of that in a second).

The first thing you have to decide is whether you want great capital growth or great rental yield, as every knowledgeable landlord knows, you can’t have both. Over the last twenty years, property values in Bingham have risen by 125.06%, compared to Greater London’s 436.2%. 

This has proved that capital growth increases faster in the more expensive South, but your investment money doesn’t go very far, meaning there won’t be as much rental yield from a 1 bed flat in Chelsea (2% per year at best with a fair wind) as a 2 bed semi in Bingham. However, whilst the figure of 125.06% is an average for the area, certain areas of Bingham have seen capital growth much higher than that and others areas much worse (we have talked about those in previous articles).

If you recall in an earlier article, my research reveals that Bingham apartments tend to generate a better yield than houses, probably because several sharers can afford to pay more than a single family. But houses tend to appreciate in value more rapidly and may well be easier to sell, simply because there are fewer being built.

So what should you be buying in Bingham, and more importantly, how much?
  • The average apartments in the town are currently selling for approximately £192 per square foot.
  • Terraced houses in Bingham are currently obtaining, on average, £164,300 or £190 per square foot,
  • An average semi in Bingham is selling for £183,100 (and achieving £188 per square foot). 


Now these are of course averages, but it gives you a good place to start from. In the coming weeks, I will look at rents being achieved on Bingham houses and apartments, and the yields that can be obtained, depending how many bedrooms there are. In the meantime, if you would like an unbiased opinion on what to buy and where please give me a call on 01949 714101.

Thursday, December 3, 2015

Has Osborne killed the buy to let market in Bingham?


Well George Osborne, in his Autumn statement last week, caused Bingham landlords to ask whether buy to let is a viable investment option, when he announced that landlords, when buying another buy to let property from April 2016 will have to pay an additional 3% stamp duty on top of the standard rate.  

So if an investor wanted to buy a property in Bingham for £123,000, before they would not have had to pay a penny in stamp duty, but from April next year it will be  £3,690. Move up market and it means that the stamp duty bill for a £285,000 buy to let home will rise from the current £4,250 to £12,800 from April next year. 

Some say property in Bingham will be worth less because potential landlords will not be willing to pay as much for them, and if house builders or existing homeowners don't feel they are going to get as much for them , then there is less motivation to build / sell them?... and the person we can blame for this is George himself. 

Back in 2012, he choose to utilise the British housing market to kick start the UK economy, with  subsidies, Funding for Lending and Help to Buy. However, whilst that helped the Tory’s get back into power in 2015, some say this impressive growth in the UK property market has been at the expense of pricing out youngsters wanting to buy their first home.

Over the next four years Landlords will slowly lose the ability to offset all their mortgage interest against tax on rental income, after changes announced in the Summer Budget. At the moment, landlords can claim tax relief on buy to let mortgage monthly interest repayments at the top level of tax they pay (ie 40% or 45%). However, over the next four years this will be reduced slowly to the basic rate of tax – currently 20%.
Surely this is the end of Buy to Let in Bingham? Probably.. but before we all run to hills panicking .. let me give you another thought.

Stamp Duty rules were changed in December 2014. Before then, landlords were eagerly buying up properties under the ‘old slab style Stamp Duty’ system. For example, the stamp duty bill on that £285,000 property was lower on the old slab style duty (pre Dec 2014), at £8,550, yet it isn’t a million miles away from new £12,800 stamp duty bill. 

Interestingly though, George has left a legal loophole in the new rules, because when it comes to selling up, they can offset purchase costs against any eventual capital gains tax, including stamp duty.I believe that total returns from buy to let will continue to outpace other investments, such as the stock market, gilts, bonds and even pensions. Also, the best part about investing in property is that it is bricks and mortar. You can touch it, you can feel it, and it isn’t controlled by some City whiz kid in Canary Wharf .. the British understand property and that goes a long way!

Buy to let has enough impetus behind it that prospective landlords will continue to buy even with a larger stamp duty bill. Bingham landlords will need to be savvy with what property they buy to ensure the extra stamp duty costs are mitigated.   

Buying buy to let property is a long term venture. In the past, it didn’t matter what property you bought in Bingham or at what price – you would always make money. Now with these extra taxes, the adage of ‘any old Bingham house will make money’ has gone out the window.   You wouldn’t dream of investing in the stock market without at least looking in the newspapers or taking advice and opinion from others, so why wouldn't you take the same advice and opinion about buying a buy to let property in Bingham?

Please pop into see me or give me a call for honest impartial advice on property investment 01949 714101

Wednesday, December 2, 2015

New investment opportunity - Calverton

This is a great family home with a lovely garden and outlook.  It has 3 bedrooms so would appeal to many different tenants.  The location is always popular due to good transport connections and yet a short drive or walk into the countryside.

The property may need a lick of paint here and there but generally looks good.

I would hope to achieve a rental of £750 pcm, giving the investor a return of over 5%.

http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-38155722.html

Image 1 of 12

Image 2 of 12

Image 5 of 12: Kitchen

Image 3 of 12: Lounge

Thursday, November 26, 2015

Bingham Buy To let –Freehold House or Leasehold Flat?



I wish to answer a question emailed into me from a potential Bingham landlord last week. Nice chap, lives in The Banks area, and it turns out, after having a coffee with him, has a spare bit of cash (now the kids have flown the nest) and wanted to buy his first buy to let property.

His main question was ... Do I buy a freehold house or a leasehold flat in Bingham?

Most people will say freehold every time, because you own the land. However, it’s not as simple as that. The definitive answer though is to research what it is that Bingham tenants want, within the area that they want. The tenant is ultimately your customer, and, if they don't want to rent what you decide is best to buy, then you are not going to have a successful BTL investment. So starting with the tenant in mind and working backwards from there, you won’t go far wrong. Find the demand before you think about creating the supply.

Leasehold flats and apartments in Bingham are excellent in some respects as they offer the landlord certain advantages, including the fact a flat can be initially cheaper to buy. Yields can be quite good, offering better cash flow. The building will already be insured and yes there is a service charge, but it’s still for a service at the end of the day and that cost is spread between many others (i.e. when your freehold house roof goes, its falls 100% on your shoulders) and one of my favourites is that there is often no garden to maintain or blown down fences to replace!

However, some Bingham leasehold flats can suffer from poor capital growth. Some leasehold properties have no cap on the level of the service charge and it may get out of control. The length of the lease will significantly affect value if not renewed before it gets too short. Thankfully there are not many, but some Bingham apartments/flats have burdensome clauses. Finally, with leases, there can be sub-letting issues – which means you can’t let them out.

So what do the numbers look like? Well since 2003, the average freehold property in Bingham (detached, semis and terraced) has risen from £115,468 to £236,654, a rise of 105% whilst the average Bingham leasehold property (flats and apartments) has dropped in value from £130,363 to £117,000, a decrease of 10%.
I was really interested to note that of the 5,595 rental properties in the Rushcliffe Borough Council area that the Office of National Statistics believe are either let privately or through a letting agency, 2,060 of them (or 36.8%) are apartments. However, there are only 4,972 apartments in the whole council area (be they owned, council rented or privately rented), which represents 10.8% of the whole housing stock in the area. This really intrigued me that, quite obviously, there is a high proportion of Bingham’s leasehold apartments/flats rented to tenants compared to detached, semi’s or terraced. 

Every Bingham apartment block, every terraced house or semi is different. Like I said at the start, the definitive answer though is to research what Bingham tenants want in the area of Bingham they want. Demand for town centre apartments, near transport links can be popular and can offer the Bingham landlord very good yields with minimal voids. However, Bingham terraced houses and semis, whilst not always offering the best yields (although sometimes they can), they do offer the Bingham landlord decent capital growth. 

My advice to the prospective landlord as it is to you is do your homework. Another source of info many Bingham landlords use is me! What many Bingham landlords do, irrespective of whether you are a landlord of ours, a landlord with another agent or a DIY landlord, if you see any property in Bingham, that catches your eye as a potential buy to let property, be it a terraced house, semi or flat... email me and I will email you back with my thoughts (although I will tell you what you need to hear .. not want to hear!)

Thursday, November 19, 2015

How EU Migration has changed the Bingham Property Market


The argument of migration and what it does, or doesn’t do, for the country’s economic wellbeing is something that has been hotly contested over the last few years. In my article today, I want to talk about what it has done for the Bingham Property market.

Before we look at Bingham though, let us look at some interesting figures for the country as a whole. Between 2001 and 2011, 971,144 EU citizens came to the UK to live and of those, 171,164 of them (17.68%) have bought their own home. It might surprise people that only 5.07% of EU migrants managed to secure a council house. However, 676,091 (69.62%) of them went into the private rental sector.  This increase in population from the EU has, no doubt, added great stress to the UK housing market.

Looking at the figures, the housing market as a whole is undoubtedly affected by migration but it has been the private rented housing sector, especially in those areas where migrants come together, that is affected the most.  Indeed, I have seen that many EU migrants often compete for such housing not with UK tenants but with other EU migrants. In 2001, 3.68 million rented a property from a landlord in the UK.  Ten years later in 2011, whilst EU migration added an additional 676,091 people renting a property from a landlord, there were actually an additional 4.14 million people who became tenants and were not EU migrants, but predominately British!

As a landlord, it is really important to gauge the potential demand for your rental property, especially if you are a landlord who buys property in areas popular with the Eastern European EU migrants.  To gauge the level of EU migration (and thus demand), one of the best ways to calculate the growth of migrants is to calculate the number of people who ask for a National Insurance number (which EU members are able to obtain).

Interestingly, in Rushcliffe, migration has fallen over the last few years. For example, in 2006 there were 324 migrant National Insurance Cards (NIC) issued and the year after, in 2007, 377 NIC cards were issued. However, in 2014, this had slipped to only 279 NIC’s. However, if the pattern of other migrations since WW2 continues, over time there will be an increasing demand for owner occupied property, which may affect the market in certain areas of high migrant concentration. On the other hand, over time some households move into the larger housing market, reducing concentrations and pressures.

In essence, migration has affected the Bingham property market; it couldn’t fail to because of the additional 2,771 working age migrants that have moved into the Bingham area since 2005. However, it has not been the main influence on the market. Property values in Bingham today are 1.12% lower than they were in 2005. According to the Office of National Statistics, rents for tenants in the East Midlands have only grown on average by 0.66% a year since 2005 .... 

I would say if it wasn’t for the migrants, we would be in a far worse position when it came to the Bingham property market. This was backed up by the then Home Secretary Theresa May back in 2012 - more than a third of all new housing demand in Britain is caused by inward migration and there is evidence that without the demand caused by such immigration, house prices would be 10% lower over a 20 year period.


If you are considering investing in a buy to let property please feel free to pop into our office on The Market Place in Bingham or give me a call for unbiased opinion on the potential returns for that property.

Thursday, November 12, 2015

A great investment opportunity in Newton!

This extended 3 bed semi would let really well and give a potential return of 5.2%. 
It is on the market via Purple Bricks for a shade under £150,000.

Newton is great for professional tenants as it provides easy access to Nottingham and the A46 to Leicester and Lincoln. 

This would let easily for £650 pcm and is a great prospect for capital growth due to the plot size and location. If you would like to discuss the potential of Newton as an area to invest in please do not hesitate to give me a call. 

Further details can be found at
http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-55953881.html


Bingham Property Market Crisis as New House Building slumps by 37.46%

   

One of the key factors that determine the price of anything is the demand and supply of the item that is being bought and sold. When it comes to property, demand can change overnight, but it takes years and years to build new properties, thus increasing the supply.

The Conservatives have pledged to build over 1 million homes by 2020. I am of the opinion that as a country, irrespective of which party, we have not built enough homes for decades, and if the gap between the number of households forming and the number of new homes being built continues to grow, we are in danger of not being able to house our children or grand children.

I believe the country is past the time for another grand statement of ambition by another Housing Minister. Surely it’s right to give normal Bingham families back the hope of a secure home, be that rented or owned? As a town, we need to exert pressure on our local MP Kenneth Clarke, so they can make sure Westminster is held accountable, to ensure there is a comprehensive plan, with enough investment, that can actually get these homes built.

To give you an idea of the sorts of numbers we are talking about, in the Nottinghamshire County Council area, 2,480 properties were built in 2005. In 2006 that rose to 2,650 and a year later in 2007, it peaked at 3,070. By 2014, that figure had dropped by a massive 37.46% to 1,920 properties built.

The outcome of too few homes being built in Bingham means the working people of the town are being priced out of buying their first home and renters are not getting the quality they deserve for their money.

I talk to many Bingham business people and they tell me they need a flexible and mobile workforce, but the high cost of moving home and lack of decent and affordable housing are barriers to attracting and retaining employees. Furthermore, building new homes is a powerful source of growth, creating jobs across the county and supporting hundreds of Bingham businesses.

It is true that landlords have taken up the mantle and over the last 15 years have bought a large number of properties. The Government need to be thankful to all those Bingham landlords, who own the 414 rental properties in the town. Most local landlords only have a handful of rented properties (to aid their retirement), and without them, I honestly don’t know who would house all the extra people in Bingham!

Moving forward, those Bingham landlords have many pitfalls, both in the short term and medium term. For instance, were you aware that the rules of changes for new tenancies from the 1st October 2015 (with some imposing penalties including losing the right to require the tenant to vacate, if they are done incorrectly) or in the medium term, the planned change in the way buy to lets are taxed?

More than ever, the days of buying any old property in Bingham and you would be set for life are gone. Now, it’s all about ensuring you stay the right side of the law, buying the right property (and that might mean even selling some to buy others), so you build the right portfolio for you as a landlord.

If you are considering investing in property please give me a call or pop into our office for an honest appraisal of any buy to let potential investment.

Wednesday, November 11, 2015

Brand new property investment opportunity in Calverton - 5.5% yield

I have mentioned this new housing development in the ever popular Calverton before, it really is a lovely place to invest.  With good schools, transport links and a village atmosphere, Calverton attracts many different types of tenants.  

Being a new build, this property is ready to let.  An easy investment for a new landlord, or a reliable property to build up a portfolio.

It is on the market direct from the builder, Taylor Wimpey, for £184,995, but as with all new builds, they are bound to accept offers from investors with no chain.

http://www.rightmove.co.uk/new-homes-for-sale/property-37525089.html








Thursday, November 5, 2015

Bingham House owners desert the housing market with an 8 year low



Even though the housing market is in an upbeat state in many parts of the UK, getting on the property ladder is still challenging for many and regarded as unattainable by some.  However, that goal has become even worse recently in Bingham as the number of houses available to buy is at an 8 year all time low.

Back in Spring 2008, there were over 200 properties for sale in Bingham and since then this has steadily declined year on year, so now there are only 46 for sale in the town.  This continuing diminishing supply of housing has been happening over those years for a while and there simply aren’t enough properties in Bingham to match demand.

According to a recent report by the National Association of Estate Agents, that said, “There are now 11 house hunters fighting after every available house which isn’t sustainable.”   What that means is Bingham youngsters, who are looking to buy their first home, are finding themselves being squeezed out by the competition.  

However, in the meantime, nobody wants to live with parents until they are in their 30’s, so that in turn creates demand for more rental properties, which means landlords have a greater demand for more rental properties so are buying more, resulting in even less smaller properties for the youngsters to buy, it’s a vicious circle.  

Talking to fellow agents, mortgage arrangers, surveyors and solicitors in the Town, all of whom have extensive dealings in the Bingham property market like myself, most of us agree the movement in the Bingham market is taking place in the middle to upper market, higher up the property ladder and it’s second and third steppers pushing through the properties that are being bought and sold.
That has meant as people tend to move less in the middle to upper market, the number of the properties actually selling has drastically reduced over the last couple of years.
When we look at the individual areas of the town, it paints an interesting picture.
  • NG13 – Bingham, Whatton, Bottesford, Aslockton Langer, Plungar and Barkestone, East Bridgford, and Orston  17 properties sold in May 2015 (the most recent set of figures from the HM Land Registry), whilst over the Spring months of 2014, the number of properties selling in this postcode was always between 50 and 60 per month. (Interestingly the average value of those properties was £264,702). 
So what does this all mean for homeowners and landlords alike in Bingham?  Demand for Bingham property is good, especially at the lower end of the market.  However, with fewer properties coming up for sale, it means property prices are proving reasonably stable too.

You see I believe a more stable, consistent Bingham property market, with less people seeing property as an easy way to make a quick buck (as many did in the early 2000’s when prices were rising at nearly 20% a year so people were buying and selling every other minute), but a property market that has a steady growth of property values in Bingham, year on year, without the massive peaks and troughs we saw in the late 1980’s and mid/late 2000’s might just be the thing that the Bingham property market needs in the long term.


If you are a landlord or considering investing in property please give me a call to discuss the performance of buy to let investments or pop into our office in The Market Place in Bingham.

Wednesday, November 4, 2015

Great buy to let available for sale - Wharf Gardens Bingham - 5% yield

This apartment, on the market with Newton Fallowell, would let very easily and will give its owner a return of around 5%.  Situated on a very popular development, it is decorated to a high standard and offers flexible living, in a location with excellent transport links.  As the property has no upward chain, it should be a fairly smooth purchase.

Built only a couple of years ago, the owner will still benefit from its NHBC warranty, plus a low maintenance investment.

We recently let a property around the corner from this within 24 hours, highlighting just how much tenants love the area!

http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-51608767.html









Thursday, October 29, 2015

Bingham tenants feel the squeeze as rents continue to rise


As my regular readers know, my passion is talking about Bingham property. As a property agent I like to comment on the Bingham property market, which I hope will be of interest to both homeowners and buy to let landlords alike. However, this week, I want to highlight the plight of the tenants of Bingham as more and more of their wages are being taken up by ever increasing rents.

The cost of renting a home in Bingham has broken through the £550 a month barrier as the average rent for a property in the town, now stands at £572 per month, a rise of 1.6 % last month, leaving rents for new lets 6.6% higher than they were 12 months ago.

House price inflation has certainly eased in Bingham from the heady days of 2014, but still with retail price inflation (for goods and services) reducing to 0% any increase in property values, no matter how small, means in real terms property is still getting more expensive. Meanwhile, many tenants have given up saving for a mortgage deposit as rents continue to take more and more of their wage packets leaving nothing to save for a deposit. That means, more and more tenants are deciding to rent for the long term and therefore the desire for decent high quality rental properties continues to exceed the available rental stock.

I would go as far as to suggest that rents are an ideal barometer to the state of the local economy as a whole and strongly believe that the recent increase in Bingham rents are a sign that the Bingham economy is picking up. 

This means Bingham landlords are continuing to capitalise on the Bingham property market. The most recent Land Registry data suggests the annual property price rises in the town have eased over 2015, leaving property values only 4.48% higher than 12 months ago, so as property price growth is easing off, with the increased rents, rental yields are strengthening for the first time in years to compensate. The mortgage market has become more stable after the mad months of May and June after the election, and so, everything is set to be good news for landlords; even with the Chancellors change of tax rules in the coming years for buy to let mortgages.

You can get some amazingly low mortgage rate deals at the moment, so with mortgage rates so low and returns still extraordinarily attractive, there’s rarely been a better time to invest in rental properties.

However, (you knew there would be a however!), it’s all about buying the right property at the right price. Not all property types are seeing equal rises in rents and capital growth.  Different parts of the town, different types of properties are experiencing quite different changes.  

When you start comparing different parts of Bingham, the numbers are even stranger!  The bottom line is that you must take advice and opinion. In the Bingham Property Blog, you will see many more articles like this, discussions and even what I consider to be the best buy to let deals around, irrespective of which agent is selling it. Please feel free to give me a call on 01949 714101 or pop into see me at our offices on the Market Place in Bingham.

Wednesday, October 28, 2015

Potential Buy to Let - No Upward Chain - Brendan Grove, Bingham - 6% yield

This property looks like a bargain to me!  Just on the market today and with no upward chain it could be a quick and easy buy to let investment.  

On the market for £127,950, with our friends at Richard Watkinson Partners it could see a healthy return of around 6%.

See the full details here: 

http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-52017757.html

Image 1 of 10: Dsc 0837.jpg

Image 2 of 10: Lounge

 Image 3 of 10: Kitchen





Friday, October 23, 2015

Potential buy to let investment: Oak Avenue Vs Wharf Gardens

I have recently been asked to look at a couple of properties in Bingham to get to the bottom of their potential as an investment opportunity. Both these properties are currently listed for sale with two Bingham agents. So I looked at what each had to offer and came to a surprising conclusion.

Oak Avenue a 2 bedroom apartment with a large kitchen and separate lounge, finished to a modern standard with a garage for sale at £94,950. I think this should achieve £525 pcm.


Image 3 of 13: Kitchen.JPG Image 10 of 13: Csc 0392.jpg

Wharf Gardens, 2 bed apartment with allocated parking in a newly built development. This in on for sale at £125,000 and these let for £550 pcm. 

 Image 1 of 11: NEW exterior main.JPG

When calculating rental return on these types of properties you must consider service charges and ground rent costs as these would need to be paid by the landlord. 

                                               Oak Avenue                 Wharf Gardens
Asking Price:                              £94,950                         £125,000
Rental income per annum:           £6300                             £6600
Less approx service charges:        £1250                             £1150   
Potential Yield per annum:            5.3%                               4.3%    


Looking at the costs of securing a buy to let mortgage on these properties (using a very useful mortgage calculator http://www.mortgageadvicebureau.com/mortgage-search ) 

Available today 22.10.15 with Monmouthshire - 2 yrs fixed at 2.79, subsequent rate 4.99%

                                      Oak Avenue                            Wharf Gardens 

30% deposit                         £29,000                               £37,500

Mortgage repayment           £296 pcm                             £393 pcm

Rental income                     £420 pcm                            £454 pcm
(after deducting service charges) 

Demonstrating the rent covering the costs of the service charges and mortgage repayments and leaving spare to save up for any potential repairs required, agents fees and void periods. 

The figures above show how Oak Avenue can produce a greater surplus income each month and requires a lower deposit to reach the 70% Loan to value level that is required to get access to a good selection of mortgage products.    

Both properties are going to perform well but as an investor it is so important do your research and not to be afraid of considering a range of properties. 

If you would like an honest opinion do not hesitate to give me a call or pop into our office on The Market Place in Bingham.