East
Midlands property asking prices jumped by more than £4,000 to £181,100 in
February according to Rightmove, an increase of 2.3% from January and 4.7%
higher than a year ago. After the traditionally quiet months of January and
February, the property market has started to warm up, but talking to some Bingham
Estate Agents, they are reporting their lowest ever stocks of quality property
for sale. However, asking prices have no relation to what property sells for
(ie their REAL value); is the issue a lack of supply?
Putting
aside Bingham’s continual housing supply shortage, (we only built 207 properties in the last decade but the
population of Bingham grew by 446), this is now, according to some people,
being exaggerated by an increase in homes being owned by buy to let investors,
who tend to be buying a property as part of a long term pension plan and are
more likely to keep it for longer than an owner occupier would. I have also
seen unwillingness among homeowners looking to move, to put their own property on the market as they can find
few suitable properties to make it worth their while going through the whole
moving process.
Talking to
some Bingham landlords only last week, I said that I believe this is the new
norm in the Bingham property market, and is the consequence of over 35 years of
not enough homes being built to meet the escalating growth in household
numbers, resulting in a lack of quality homes for sale in many popular areas of
Bingham.
When one
looks at the historic data, in March 2008, there were 210 properties on the
market in Bingham compared to today’s 35. Should we be worried? Well in April 2010 , there were only 48 properties
for sale in Bingham but ten months later in February 2011, this had jumped to 165
properties, for it to drop to 24 properties in August 2013. The number of
properties on the market is a cyclical thing in Bingham, it always has been and
always will be. As we go into the Spring of 2015, the number of new properties coming
onto the market will increase ... just as the daffodils will flower.
So are
landlords to blame? Well, on one side of the coin, yes they are. If they buy a
property to rent out, that means someone can’t buy it to live in. However, it
doesn’t matter if someone wants to live in a property if they can’t afford the
deposit and upkeep .. and the youngsters of Bingham still need a roof over their
head.
So on the other side of the coin, if the Council aren’t building any
properties and people can’t afford the large deposit for the mortgage, then Bingham
landlords have stepped in and bought property to rent out to them. Bingham
landlords have bought 210 properties over the last decade (investing
approximately £44.84million buying those Bingham rental properties), meaning
there were at the last count, 414 Bingham properties being privately rented out
to tenants. Bingham tenants are in fact getting a good deal as well, as average
rents in Bingham are 4.5% below where they were seven years ago. That sounds
like a win-win situation for everyone to me. Stop blaming landlords and start
building more properties in Bingham .. that is the only answer.
In the
meantime, the demand from Bingham tenants for Bingham property is only set to
rise over the coming years. If you want some advice and opinion on where (or
not) to buy, please pop into our office 18 Market Place, Bingham or call me on
01949 714101.
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