I bumped into a local property investor and he wanted to know my thoughts on the future of the Bingham property market, and I would now like to share with you that conversation, my Bingham property Blog reading friends.
People are always going to need a roof over
their heads – it’s a necessity
for every single person. The 22 to 30 year olds of the town have a choice in what type of roof they have ... they can rent from the council, they can rent from
a private landlord or finally they can get a mortgage and buy something. In the 70’s/80’s
and 90’s, the expected thing was to save like mad for two years for the deposit
(going without luxuries) whilst living at home or renting a cheap two up two
down, then buy your first house. However, more recently, fewer young people of Bingham have been buying; choosing to rent instead – mainly from private
landlords (as councils have been selling off council housing on the Right to
Buy schemes).
Roll the clock back 20 years and Bingham was a
different place. There were 2,900 households in Bingham and 2,248 of those were
owner occupied. Move to the present, and with all the building in the town, the
total number of households has increased by 34.1% to 3,889 and quite surprising
(to me at least), the number of owner-occupiers has increased to 2,969.
However, it's the rented sector that is truly
fascinating … twenty years ago, only 111 properties were privately rented in Bingham
... and now its 414!
The twenty-somethings
of Bingham haven’t been helped by the local authority
selling off council housing, with the number of council houses dropping from 365
to 119 over the same twenty year period. Demand for decent rented property
remains high, as Cameron’s much vaunted house building program is years away
and has decades of under investment to catch up on before it starts to affect
demand. Even with the Buy to Let tax rule changes over the coming few years
(which will see the maximum tax relief available to landlords drop from 45% to
20%), private landlords still have an important role to play in housing the people
of Bingham and those who educate themselves and treat it as a business will
survive and prosper.
The best way Bingham landlords can protect
their property investment (and mitigate the affects of the tax rises) is to
keep the homes they let out in Grade A condition. I have found, especially over
the last three or four years, tenants have ever growing demands from
their rental property, but many are prepared to pay ‘top dollar‘ for houses and
apartments that meet their high expectations. You must not forget, letting
property in Bingham (in fact anywhere) is a business, so all private landlords
should also seek the advice, opinion and commentary of property professionals.
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