Do semi-detached properties in Langton Green make good investments for Buy to Let?

I was talking to someone who lives in Langton Green who wanted to purchase his first Buy to Let property and had noticed our previous articles, so was interested in getting to know the industry a little bit more. As he has lived in the Langton Green area for over 8 years and he felt comfortable investing around there as he knew it well, we started to discuss the property market in this area. With my local knowledge I was able to tell him that whilst Langton Green was a very nice place to live, for investing purposes, the yields a landlord could hope to achieve only lay in the 2.5% to 3.5% per year region, however, property values have on average risen by around 181% since 1999, which when you consider the Royal Tunbridge Wells average property value increase is only 105% over the same time frame, it is good news all round!

However, as investing in property is a balance between capital growth and yield plus buying the right sort of property (normally semis and terraced properties), I was able to suggest Rusthall as a better bet for buy to let investment becuase there simply isn’t the stock of semi detached houses in Langton Green to buy, be it for home ownership or renting out. Interestingly though, of the 2,076 properties on the Rusthall, 1,429 of them are semi detached or terraced (or 69%), compared to 48% average in Royal Tunbridge Wells. There is also a healthy rental market, with 225 properties in the private rented sector, meaning only 10.8% rental saturation (compared to the RTW average of 15.7%) .. again another reason to invest in Rusthall.

So with a reasonable yield and excellent capital growth, semis in Rusthall, especially 3 beds, could make a decent future investment. Whether you are a landlord of ours or someone thinking of investing in rental market for the first time, drop by our offices  Royal Tunbridge Wells or email me. One final thought though, as I am sure many of you will know, Church Langton was where Subbuteo, was originally made .. just a bit of info as we get to the end of with the World Cup!