Is the Bingham Property Market in crisis?

Since the 1960’s more people have owned their own home than rented but, for many young Bingham people, the dream of buying their own home is dying...or is it? Since the turn of the Millennium, in Bingham (as in the rest of the Country) there has been a significant change in the proportion of people who own their own home in Bingham. In 2001, 78.54% of homes in Bingham were owner occupied, today the figure is 76.28%, a significant decline in such a short time.  Buy to let landlords can find tenants because young people say they cannot afford a deposit to buy unless they inherit money or are given a loan from the Bank of Mum and Dad.

In Bingham, only 51.97% of 25 to 34 year olds have a mortgage. When you compare Bingham against the national average of 35.93%, it just shows how different parts of the country have different housing markets. However, the really interesting fact is this  ...Roll the clock back to 1991 and nationally, 67% of 25 to 34 year olds had a mortgage. After WW2, the supply of properties being built kept up with demand as millions of council homes were built (the most being built in 1950s, surprisingly under Conservative Governments!). Also private house building increased in the 1950’s, but especially in the 1960’s and 1970’s, and as the Country  got more prosperous it meant that by 1971, there were more home owners than renters.

However, since the 1970’s, the population has grown but the number of new properties being built hasn’t kept up at the same rate, the result is that there have been huge rises of property prices in the early ‘70s, the late 80s and more recently between 1999 and 2004. Interestingly, since the early 1970’s, out of the 34 richest countries in the world, the UK has seen highest property prices rises.

95% mortgages have been available to first time buyers since late 2009, but with property prices rising by 191.6% since the Autumn of 1995 in Bingham, and first time buyers have been saving, the amount they have to save is continually rising at the same time. The stress on saving even for that kind of deposit, coupled with the new stricter mortgage rules introduced in 2014, means that most 20/30 something’s in Bingham are renting instead of buying.

The issue quite simply comes back down to a lack of new homes being built. In Bingham, only 21 properties a year are being built whilst the population is rising by 36 a year. The supply of new homes has been limited by planning laws, local councils not having the money to build council houses, hard hitting green belt limitations, and our old friend NIMBY’ism.  With a rising population and net migration, especially from the EU, the mismatch between demand and supply is why we have the problem. Until Politian’s have the backbone to realise the Country needs a lot more decent homes built, the problem will just get worse.

In the meantime, demand for rental property will continue to grow because people need a roof over their head at the end of the day ......fact.

Like many agents in Bingham, we will happily give you our opinion on the current state of the  market and the advantages/disadvantages to investing in the Bingham property market if you pop into our offices or email me on Katie.archer@belvoirlettings.com.

Rural family home finished to a high standard..

Hammond Property Services have this lovely 3 bed house up for sale for £144,950.
Its in the village of Barnstone, near to Langar, and is finished to an excellent standard. It would let well for £625 pcm at least which would give a potential return of 5.1%.

Click on the link to check out the rest of the property...

http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-52115279.html

702% Return for Bingham Buy To Let landlords since 2001

Buy to let is essentially different from investing in stocks and shares or putting money in the Building Society. Whilst these other investments (Building Society Passbooks, Stocks and Shares etc) are passive  ie once the  money has been invested it you leave it alone, with buy to let, things are more hands on, in fact it’s almost a business. One thing the landlords I speak to say is the fact that they like buy to let because it is both an investment as well as a business. It is this factor that attracts many of my Bingham landlords – they are making their own decisions rather than entrusting them to others (such as City Whiz Kids in London playing roulette with their Pension Pot).

So if you are investing in the Bingham property market, you can earn from your investment in two ways. When a property increases in value over time, it is known as 'capital growth'. Capital growth, also known as capital appreciation, this has been strong in recent times in Bingham, but the value of property does go up as well as down just like shares do but the initial purchase price rarely decreases.  Rental income is what the tenant pays you - hopefully this will grow over time. If you divide the annual rent into the value (or purchase price) of the property, this is your yield, or annual return.

I was talking to a landlord who bought a flat house in the Milburn Grove area of Bingham. He bought a very pleasant 2 bed flat in 2001 for £39,000. It sold again in February just gone for £107,500, a rise of 175.64% in just under 14 years – a compound annual return of 7.51%

However, the real returns are for those Bingham landlords who borrowed money to purchase their buy to let property. They have made significantly higher returns than those who paid 100% cash. If the landlord had borrowed 75% of the £39,000 purchase price of the Milburn Grove flat on an interest only 75% mortgage, he would have only needed to invest £9,750 (as his 25% deposit... borrowing the remaining £29,250), but his £9,750 would be worth today, £78,250  (£107,500 less £29,250 interest only mortgage)... a rise of 702.56% - a compound annual return of 16.04%... and I haven’t even mentioned the rent he would have received in those 14 years!

This demonstrates how the Bingham buy to let market has not only provided very strong returns for average investors since 2001 but how it has permitted a group of motivated buy to let Bingham landlords to become particularly wealthy. In fact, if this landlord had continued to remortgage the property as it went up in value, he could by our reckoning have had an additional two or three properties (albeit with larger mortgages but greater future potential).

As my article mentioned a few weeks ago, more and more Bingham people may be giving up on owning their own home and are instead accepting long term renting whilst buy to let lending continues to grow from strength to strength. If you want to know what (and would not) make a decent property to buy in Bingham for buy to let, then give me a call on 01949 714101.

3 Bed Semi in Popular Village Location - Lowdham

This property looks like a sound buy to let investment.  It may require a little TLC on the garden but the interior looks like a great rental property - spacious and neutral, just what tenants are looking for.

Click here for full details and to arrange a viewing:

http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-48700351.html

            

What will the General Election result do to the Bingham Property Market?

After Conservatives returning to power with a majority at Westminster, all the potential issues and possible uncertainties of a hung parliament has lifted the cloud from the Bingham property market.  Talking to other Bingham agents, surveyors and solicitors in the area over the last few days, there are signs this has started a new impetus the Bingham property market after a subdued six months, when an amalgamation of tougher lending conditions, a natural correction after the strong recovery in Bingham property prices in 2014, and political uncertainty ahead of the General Election slowed demand.

Against the back drop of Labour’s election promises of rent controls and three year tenancies, some Bingham buy to let landlords were waiting to see how these new policies would be implemented before they committed themselves to buying more property for their buy to let portfolio. Now that uncertainty has been removed, the long term picture is very positive.

Where next for the Bingham property market?  Well with inflation at zero and with the Money markets happy David Cameron is still at No.10, the Bank of England have no reason to raise interest rates until 2016 at the earliest. As mortgage rates are at their lowest levels since 2010, landlords with large deposits will now be wooed by the mortgage companies in the coming months with low rates.

You see over the past couple of years, Bingham landlords have benefited from a booming Nottinghamshire job market. Unemployment in Rushcliffe has dropped to 1.3%, as a year ago, 848 people were claiming unemployment benefit compared to today’s 629. With more jobs and better pay, as the level of rent is directly linked to tenant’s wages (see article 30/4/15 Rents paid by tenants in Bingham is on the rise), there has been an increase in the rental prices tenants are willing to pay for good quality Bingham properties.

Some landlords might be nervous about Tory’s plans for the housing market in the next five years in terms of tenant demand for their rental properties. One plan is for Housing Association tenants to have the right to buy their property. These kind of tenants were never in the private rented sector and will actually increase the supply of properties in the housing stock in decades to come. The Government ‘Help to Buy Scheme’ has only helped to buy 20 (yes only twenty) Rushcliffe properties since April 2013. Considering 1,247 properties have changed hands in the last year alone in Rushcliffe, I don’t think it has made a huge difference to our local property market.

The biggest matter, when it comes to tenant demand of rental property going forward, comes from the shift in the mindset and attitudes towards renting itself. Twenty years ago you were seen as a second class citizen if you rented a property. In Bingham, as in the rest of the UK (apart from Central London), renting continues to offer good value for money for tenants.  If you are an existing landlord in Bingham or thinking of becoming one then I must suggest you out seek specialist advice and opinion. 

Like many agents in Bingham, we will happily give you our opinion on the current state of the  market and the advantages/disadvantages to investing in the Bingham property market if you pop into our offices or email me on Katie.archer@belvoirlettings.com.

Stunning 4 bed family home in Bingham - low voids

This property on the market for sale with Richard Watkinson is just the sort of property that I could let straight away. Investing in a property like this one would reduce the risk of void periods as it is likely to be let by a family who would prefer a long term let. They are also the type of tenant in my experience that will look after the property like it was their own home.

It would achieve a rent of £895 pcm which would give a return of 4.7% if purchased for £225,000.

This development looks to have seen a 14% house price increase over the last 3 years which in current conditions is great capital growth.

Click on the link for more information ...

http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-49800517.html 

3 Bed Semi - Cloverfields, Calverton

This is a fab family home with a conservatory and a garage and would make a great buy to let investment.  Situated in a popular village in which house prices can only go up over the coming months, it needs snapping up now!  It is on the market with Gascoines so give them a call and make this your next property purchase.

Would bring in a rental return of around 5%.

Click here for further details: http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-33290406.html

                 

Two Speed Bingham Property Market?

Even with the General Election voting today, property values in Bingham are still 0.67% higher than they were 3 months ago, the diversion and ambiguity of an election typically makes house sellers who need to sell, price their property more realistically (although this only lasts a couple of months).

Looking specifically at it from a Bingham landlord’s point of view, the Bingham properties favoured by investors are in short supply in many parts of the town because of a number of factors. One of the factors has been that we seen the number of first time buyers coming to buy their first home increase over the last 12 months in Bingham.  Another factor has been the fact that the banks have been pushing ‘let to buy’ (yes ‘let to buy’ is different to ’buy to let’) to homeowners (more of ‘let to buy’ in an up and coming article). Next, because of the banks, who are chasing low risk landlords with high deposits with very low mortgage rates- and the low risk landlords with high deposits tend to be attracted to the safer modern two and three bed town houses and semis in Bingham.

As I mentioned a few weeks back, the pension rules are changing which means buy to let landlords can use some, or all, of their pension pot to buy a property.  It shouldn’t be forgotten there are tax implications taking more than a quarter of your pension pot out (see the article from a couple of weeks ago), so whilst many pension pots may not be able fund a suitably big enough tax free lump sum to buy the property outright, for most it will provide enough for the 25% deposit (required by most BTL mortgage providers). It shouldn’t be forgotten landlords that the interest paid on the mortgage is tax deductible against the rent, thus lowering your income tax paid.

In the last 12 months, I have noticed a particular uplift in interest from ‘50 something’ Bingham people wanting to become landlords for the first time. In Bingham, the highest returns for the lowest investment are at the lower end of the market eg the classic modern town house.  Unfortunately modern town house , with two bedrooms are coming to the market in smaller numbers than the larger four bed’s  in  top end sectors of the Bingham property market. When looking at the actual numbers, in the later part of the Summer of 2014 in Bingham, in one month alone 38 two bed properties were on the market in Bingham. However, in January this year, a notoriously excellent bumper month for properties coming on to the market, there were only 24 two bed properties on the market in Bingham to choose from. Today, that figure stands at only 33..whilst the number of four and five beds has increased significantly ...  interesting don’t you think?

At that lower end of the property market in Bingham, (ie where first time buyers and landlord investors compete with each other to buy those smaller properties), I believe throughout 2015, there will be a slow and steady tipping of the scales between supply and demand. In fact, from what i am seeing and hearing, early anecdotal evidence has suggested over the last few months (although we will need to look at figures later in the Spring once we have the data from The Land Registry), we are beginning to see a polarised Bingham property market, where we have high demand but low supply at the bottom end of the property market, yet high supply but lower demand at the top of market .. and that can only mean one thing ... prices will go up quicker on the smaller properties than the larger ones in Bingham, thus narrowing the gap for people looking to move up market!

If you would like to discuss the Bingham property market please pop in an see me at our office in 18 Market Place, Bingham or give me a call on 01949 714101.

Fab 2 bed BTL in Bingham

This is a fabulous 2 bed semi in Bingham, just crying out to be snapped up as a buy to let.  All the hard work has been done, and it will appeal to all tenants.

On the market with Hammond Property Services, it should see a return of 5%.

See for yourself here: http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-51955718.html