Royal Tunbridge Wells Buy To let – Bedrooms?

Last week, a landlord from Royal Tunbridge Wells emailed me to ask, after reading the Royal Tunbridge Wells Property Blog, if he should extend his terraced house making an extra bedroom in the loft. He had a builder friend who owed him a favour, and thought a good way would be get an ‘inexpensive’ extension.

Having more useable space is generally thought to be consistent with better quality accommodation and homeowners and tenants are prepared to pay for it. If you added a bedroom to a two bed terraced to make a three bed terraced, it will add 10% to the value of the property.  Turn a three bed terraced into a four bed terraced and 9% will be added to the value. Looking at semi detached properties, and turn a two into a three bed and 12% will be added to the value, whilst making a three bed semi into four bed will add 9% in value.

However, before you rush off to the planning department there are some important considerations, whether you are a homeowner or landlord.  What would be the cost of making that extra bedroom? The average value of a terraced house in Royal Tunbridge Wells is currently £407,298 whilst the average value of a semi detached house is £782,800 meaning to make money the cost of the extension would need to be less than £38,693 on the terraced property and £82,194 on the semi detached house. Talking to a number of trades people in the town, most are booking up into the New Year. Also, no matter how good a friend he was, I know of no builders that would charge as little as that. Maybe the builder was just thinking of a bit of pointing work on the chimney!

Well, that got me thinking about how bedrooms affected rental prices and rent-ability as well.   Interestingly below, you will see that whilst bedrooms do have an effect on the rent that can be achieved and the rent-ability of the property – the difference does not warrant the expense, hassle and trouble of extending.

·         51.4% of the one bed properties on the market to rent in Royal Tunbridge Wells have a tenant with an average rent of £789 per month

·         45.5% of the two bed properties on the market to rent in Royal Tunbridge Wells have a tenant with an average rent of £1,141 per month

·         49.1% of the three bed properties on the market to rent in Royal Tunbridge Wells have a tenant with an average rent of £1,485 per month

·         35.7% of the four bed properties on the market to rent in Royal Tunbridge Wells have a tenant with an average rent of £2,250 per month

No, if you want to increase the value of your property, be you a Royal Tunbridge Wells landlord or homeowner, there are things that cost a lot less than building extra bedrooms. Spruce up the exterior, emulsion all the rooms, install fresh carpets and curtains. For homeowners, a matter of a few hundred pounds will add thousands whilst for landlords, these things can add an extra 10% to the rent that you can achieve. For more advice and opinion on the Royal Tunbridge Wells Property Market, visit the Royal Tunbridge Wells Property Blog

Royal Tunbridge Wells Buy To Let – Demand and Supply

Following on from my recent article about the state of the Royal Tunbridge Wells property market and in particular what had happened to the rents Royal Tunbridge Wells tenants have had to pay since the Credit Crunch, if you recall, I said rents in Royal Tunbridge Wells are 7.4% higher than they were in 2008. A Royal Tunbridge Wells landlord has since rung me after reading the Royal Tunbridge Wells Property Blog, wanting to know more of the story of what was happening to current rents in the town. The reason he asked was that his current agent hadn’t increased his rent for a number of years and was concerned if he was getting the best return from his buy to let investment.

The Royal Tunbridge Wells rental market is all about supply and demand (isn’t it so in all parts of the economy?). On the supply side, 225 rental properties have come up for let in the last 31 days in Royal Tunbridge Wells. It sounds a lot until you consider there are 5353 rental properties in Royal Tunbridge Wells, that means only 4.2% of the rental stock of properties in Royal Tunbridge Wells are coming onto the market each month (it is normally around 5%). One reason for this lack of new rental properties coming on the market is the fact that tenants seem to be staying in properties longer.

With this lack of supply, newer tenants have to pay more to secure the property they want. And this is the crux of the matter ...properties they want. Older properties in Royal Tunbridge Wells, that haven’t been maintained, still retain their wood chip wallpaper from the 1970’s and thread bare carpets have seen their rents drop. Tenants want either modern properties with all the mod cons or older style properties that have been presented to an exceptional standard – and they are prepared to pay for the privilege. Rents for top quality properties in Royal Tunbridge Wells have risen by 0.5% in the last month. Any properties, old or modern, put on the market in good or excellent condition will rent in a matter of days.

Interestingly, looking at Royal Tunbridge Wells property values, the Land Registry have just released their latest set of data on property values. Throughout April 2015 (the latest set of data), property values rose in Royal Tunbridge Wells, with 0.4% growth, meaning they are now 8.9% higher than they were a year ago. When one looks at the regional picture, the South East average property values rose by 0.8% in the last month. The difference doesn’t concern me, as the regional and local property values always even themselves out over the months.

Looking forward, after considering all the statistics and talking to other property professionals, I expect property values in Royal Tunbridge Wells to rise by 3% to 5% over the coming 12 months, following the Conservative victory. In a forthcoming article, I will discuss how the number of properties changing hands each month has dropped considerably in the last 10 to 15 years in the town.

...And so back to our landlord. Each property is unique and so as his tenancy agreement allows him to inspect the property with notice to the tenant, we will be visiting the property next week. For more in depth thoughts and opinions like this on the Royal Tunbridge Wells Property market ...visit the Royal Tunbridge Wells Property Blog

Royal Tunbridge Wells Buy To Let – Should you look further afield?

I was at a recent business networking event in Royal Tunbridge Wells, when a landlord (who it transpired had a couple of Buy to let properties) bent my ear on where the next hot spot town or city is to invest his money in and where the best rental yields are. Now it can be tempting to just look at Royal Tunbridge Wells when growing a buy to let property portfolio, but there can be big differences in the amount of rental income you receive and how much your property will appreciate by considering other locations in the country.

Now regular readers of my articles of the Royal Tunbridge Wells Property Blog know of my love of the ‘buy to let seesaw’. On one side of the seesaw is yield and the other capital growth. Landlords should be looking for a high rental yield so that they can comfortably cover any mortgage payments and make some profit from the income return, but you also want the property to rise in value over time so you can get some capital growth when you come to sell. However, high yielding property in say such areas as Ramslye in Royal Tunbridge Wells, (so the seesaw arm with yield on it goes up on one side), will suffer from low capital growth (so the other arm with capital growth on the seesaw goes down).  The relationship works in reverse as well, so in such upmarket areas as Culverden and Langton Green, properties offer good capital growth, but at the expense of a decent yield.  

The North East and North West of the UK are landlord magnets for great yields. The average yield in Royal Tunbridge Wells today is 4.49%, which when you compare with say Hartlepool in the North East, which achieves 7.73% or  9.43% in the Anfield area of Liverpool, doesn’t look too healthy. Now of course, these are only averages and some of my Royal Tunbridge Wells landlords are achieving 6% to 7% on some of their Royal Tunbridge Wells properties, but at the expense of capital growth. Anyway, after wasting a tank full of petrol up the A1 to Teeside or the M1 to Home of the ‘The Reds’,  that Liverpool property, would have dropped in value by 2.2% in the last 12 months and the Hartlepool property would have dropped by 1.4%.

When you compare the long term house price growth, it gets even worse. Since 1995, property values in Royal Tunbridge Wells have risen by 219.37%,compared with Hartlepool at 21.02% and Liverpool  at 90.11% – it just shows you shouldn’t always chase the yield because of the poor increases in property values in those two places. As I always like to explain to landlords, a decent yield is important, but when you come to sell your buy to let property it would also be nice to make a decent profit.

At the end of the day, as a Royal Tunbridge Wells landlord, you want to be making gains from both your rent and house price growth, particularly when you want to sell, because when combined, the rental yield and capital growth, that gives you the real return on your investment. Finally though, do you know Hartlepool and Liverpool as well you know Royal Tunbridge Wells? Do you know where the good and bad areas are in both those places? Are you happy that it would require you to take a day out of work if there was an issue with your property in the North?  If you can’ t answer yes to all three questions, then maybe you should be considering a closer to home?

Royal Tunbridge Wells Property Market – Post Election Blues?

With the election now over and the stability of Downing Street secure, with David Cameron and his Blue Tories as the largest party in Westminster, in Royal Tunbridge Wells (as in the rest of the UK) average wages are beginning to grow faster than inflation. This is good news for the Royal Tunbridge Wells housing market, as some buyers may be willing or able to pay higher prices given the more certain political outlook and attractive inexpensive mortgage rates. However, sellers who think they have the upper hand due to the lack of property for sale should be aware that we should start to see an increase in the number of people putting their properties on to the market in Royal Tunbridge Wells giving buyers some extra negotiating power.

At the last election in May 2010, there were 635 properties for sale in Royal Tunbridge Wells and by October 2010, this had risen to 867, an impressive rise of 26% in five months. An increase in the supply of properties coming on to the market could tip the balance in the demand and supply economics seesaw, thus potentially denting prices. However, as most sellers are buyers and confidence is high, this means there will be good levels of property and buyers, well into the summer, as demand will continue to slightly outstrip supply.

Just before we leave the run up to the election, it is important to consider what the uncertainty in April did to the Royal Tunbridge Wells property market. I mentioned a few weeks ago that property values (ie what properties were actually selling for) had dropped by 0.2% in March 2015. Now new data has been released from Rightmove about April’s asking prices of property in Royal Tunbridge Wells. It shows that pre-election nerves finally came home to roost in the final weeks of electioneering, with the average price of property coming to market only increasing by a very modest 1.1% (April is normally one of the best months of the year for house price growth).

I am sure our local MP, Greg Clark, would agree that the biggest issue is the lack of new properties being built in Royal Tunbridge Wells. The Conservative manifesto pledged to build 200,000 discounted starter homes for first-time buyers in the next five years. For Royal Tunbridge Wells to gets its share, that would mean only 79 such properties being built in Royal Tunbridge Wells each year for the next five years, not much when you consider there are 43,410 properties in Royal Tunbridge Wells.

Housing is not a big issue for Conservative voters and because London is an increasingly Labour city where the biggest housing issues are found by a country mile, so will it remain on the ‘to do list’ but won’t get recognition it deserves. Until another political party gets back into power, nothing will seismically change in the property market, thus demand for housing will continue to outstrip supply, meaning property values will increase (good news for landlords). However, as rents tend to go up and down with tenant wages, in the long term, rents are still only 7.4% higher than they were in 2008 (good news for tenants)... with renting everyone wins! 

Property Values drop by 0.2% in Royal Tunbridge Wells

Property values in Royal Tunbridge Wells fell by 0.2% in March. This follows several months of sluggish activity in the Royal Tunbridge Wells property market in the run up to the Election, putting the average price of a property in Royal Tunbridge Wells at £842,100, 9.1% higher than in March 2014. Despite the not so insignificant fall in March, the figures showed property values in Royal Tunbridge Wells were still higher in the first quarter of 2015 than in the last quarter of 2014.

Interestingly, the Council of Mortgage Lenders and Estate Agent trade bodies over the last few months have reported seeing a fall in mortgage lending and enquiries from prospective homebuyers. This is important because it comes amid an overall fall in housing market activity in Royal Tunbridge Wells. Data from the Land Registry said completed house sales in Royal Tunbridge Wells in the three months to January 2015, (the most up-to-date figures available) fell by 6.78% compared to the same three month period up to January 2014.

However, I believe that the slowdown in property sales in Royal Tunbridge Wells is supporting Royal Tunbridge Wells property values, as there is a shortage of houses coming onto the market. Even though in the whole of the first Quarter of 2015, Royal Tunbridge Wells property value increases may seem subdued when compared to 2014, let us remember, property values are still rising well above the level of inflation. 

As I have said many times before, the population in Royal Tunbridge Wells is growing at a much higher rate than the number of properties being built. This increasing demand for a roof over people’s head, which is outpacing the supply of new houses being built in Royal Tunbridge Wells, is creating a severe imbalance in the Royal Tunbridge Wells (in fact the whole of UK’s) housing market, thus making homeownership an ever increasingly distant dream for many of Royal Tunbridge Wells’s potential first time buyers.

In fact, I still maintain the view that house prices are likely to rise by around 3 to 5% in Royal Tunbridge Wells in 2015, even after taking into account this blip at start of the year. The reason being is that the rise reflects both strong economic conditions and steady market conditions with (and this is the most important factor) very low numbers of properties on the market. 

Many Buy to Let landlords know that investing in the Royal Tunbridge Wells property market is a long-term strategy of 10, 20 even 30 years. Governments come and go, but unless Royal Tunbridge Wells Borough Council start to build hundreds of new properties a year to make up for the shocking lack of supply, Royal Tunbridge Wells people will always want a roof over their head, and irrespective of which party is in power, if there aren’t any council houses and they can’t (or are unable to buy), a demand for rental properties will always remain.

As my existing Royal Tunbridge Wells landlord clients will testify, whether you manage your property yourself, or another Royal Tunbridge Wells agent manages your properties, everyone is always made to feel welcome when they pop in for a coffee at our offices in Royal Tunbridge Wells to discuss anything to do with the Royal Tunbridge Wells property market, how Royal Tunbridge Wells compares with its closest rival towns. I don’t bite, I don’t do hard sell, I will just give you my honest and straight talking opinion. However, if you are too busy to pop into town, you could always visit the Royal Tunbridge Wells Property Blog (insert url here) for advice, intelligent commentary and analysis of the Royal Tunbridge Wells Property market.

What does the General Election result mean for the Royal Tunbridge Wells Property Market?

After the shock of the 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 Royal Tunbridge Wells property market.  Talking to other Royal Tunbridge Wells agents, surveyors and solicitors in the area over the last few days, there are signs this has started a new impetus in the Royal Tunbridge Wells property market after a subdued six months, when an amalgamation of tougher lending conditions, a natural correction after the strong recovery in Royal Tunbridge Wells 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 Royal Tunbridge Wells 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.

So, with all that uncertainty now removed, where next for the Royal Tunbridge Wells 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, Royal Tunbridge Wells landlords have benefitted from a booming Royal Tunbridge Wells job market. Unemployment in the Royal Tunbridge Wells has dropped to 0.9%, as a year ago, 614 people were claiming unemployment benefit compared to today’s 499. With more jobs and better pay, as the level of rents is directly linked to tenant’s wages, there has been an increase in the rental prices tenants are willing to pay for good quality Royal Tunbridge Wells 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 eighteen Royal Tunbridge Wells properties since April 2013. Considering 1,358 properties have changed hands in the last year alone in Royal Tunbridge Wells, 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 Royal Tunbridge Wells, 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 Royal Tunbridge Wells or thinking of becoming one (or as we like to call you .. a FTL .. a ‘first time landlord’), then I must suggest you seek out specialist advice and opinion. Like many agents in Royal Tunbridge Wells, we will happily give you our opinion on the current state of the  market and the advantages/disadvantages to investing in the Royal Tunbridge Wells property market if you pop into our offices. However, if time is at a premium, another source of information on the Royal Tunbridge Wells Property Market is the Royal Tunbridge Wells Property Blog www.royaltunbridgewellsproperty.blogspot.co.uk

480% Return for Royal Tunbridge Wells Buy To Let landlords since 2000

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 Royal Tunbridge Wells landlords – they are making their own decisions rather than entrusting them to others (such as City Whiz Kidzs in London playing roulette with their Pension Pot).

So if you are investing in the Royal Tunbridge Wells 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 Royal Tunbridge Wells, 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 an apartment in the Lansdowne Road area of Royal Tunbridge Wells. He bought a very pleasant studio apartment in 2000 for £50,000. It sold again in February just gone for £110,000, a rise of 120% in 15 years – a compound annual return of 5.40%.

However, the real returns are for those Royal Tunbridge Wells 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 £50,000 purchase price of the Lansdowne Road studio apartment on an interest only 75% mortgage, he would have only needed to invest £12,500 (as his 25% deposit... borrowing the remaining £37,500), but his £12,500 would be worth today, £72,500  (£110,000 less £37,500 interest only mortgage)... a rise of 480%) - a compound annual return of 12.43%... and I haven’t even mentioned the rent he would have received in those 15 years!

This demonstrates how the Royal Tunbridge Wells buy to let market has not only provided very strong returns for average investors since 2000 but how it has permitted a group of motivated buy to let Royal Tunbridge Wells 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 Royal Tunbridge Wells 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 Royal Tunbridge Wells for buy to let, then one place for such information would be the Royal Tunbridge Wells Property Blog.

Is the Royal Tunbridge Wells Property Market in crisis?

Since the 1960’s more people have owned their own home than rented but, for many young Royal Tunbridge Wells  people, the dream of buying their own home is dying...or is it? Since the turn of the Millennium, in Royal Tunbridge Wells  (as in the rest of the Country) there has been a significant change in the proportion of people who own their own home in Royal Tunbridge Wells . In 2001, 71.7% of homes in Royal Tunbridge Wells  were owner occupied, today the figure is 65.7%, 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 Royal Tunbridge Wells , only 39.15% of 25 to 34 year olds have a mortgage. When you compare Royal Tunbridge Wells  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 Tory 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 261% since the Winter of 1995 in Royal Tunbridge Wells , as property prices have been rising 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 Royal Tunbridge Wells  are renting instead of buying.

The issue quite simply comes back down to a lack of new homes being built. In Royal Tunbridge Wells,  only 447  properties a year are being built whilst the population is rising by 1,092 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.

Are Attitudes to Home Ownership changing in Royal Tunbridge Wells?

Speaking to a Bank Manager the other day in Royal Tunbridge Wells, we got talking about the state of the Royal Tunbridge Wells property market and whether we, as a Country, are turning more and more to the European style of property ownership, where it is the norm to rent as a opposed to automatically buying once you have a good job etc.

Even though a recent report by the Halifax stated homeownership remains a goal for 85% of twenty to forty five year olds, there is information emerging that attitudes in the UK towards renting your own home as opposed to owning it have softened, showing more and more, that renting is being seen as a life style choice.  In fact it is recognised in learned circles that the cycle of renting is also repeated by the fact that people who grow up primarily in rented accommodation are themselves more likely to rent than buy.

The biggest barrier often mentioned to buying a house is the claim that they are not buying property at the moment because of a lack of sufficient wages and by the high level of deposits but like we said a few weeks ago, in Royal Tunbridge Wells, if a couple, one  on the average Royal Tunbridge Wells salary of £35,338 pa and the other on the Minimum wage, assuming they had a reasonable credit history they would be showered with lenders offering them a 95% mortgage (a reasonable credit history means they haven’t defaulted on loans, paid all their bills on time nor got any County Court Judgements. Just because you missed just one credit card payment wont mean you have messed up your credit score and your ability to get a mortgage) and they would only need to find £7,700 as a deposit to buy a top of the range one bed apartment in an up market area of Royal Tunbridge Wells or a good honest utilitarian, yet very well built, ex local authority 3 bed semi in Rusthall ..it comes down to the perceived capability of the youngsters in Royal Tunbridge  Wells to buy nowadays.

Interestingly, when I looked at the Royal Tunbridge Wells figures, the average Royal Tunbridge  Wells tenant has a older profile (especially the 35 to 49 year olds) than the English and Welsh average, as can be seen from the graph below. What interested me as well was the relatively large number of people renting over the age of 50! I know we have a large number of mature tenants at our agency, but I always thought that was the exception to the rule. Obviously not!  (And that is good news for landlords as they make excellent tenants)

So what does all this mean for Royal Tunbridge Wells landlords and future Royal Tunbridge  Wells landlords? I honestly believe there is a difference between the hope and perceived capability of the younger generation to buy a home. Although homeownership is seen as advantageous by a majority, many tenants admitted in the Halifax report they are not taking the steps they need to purchase their own home.

As the local authority aren’t building any properties in Royal Tunbridge  Wells, people still need a roof over the head, and that is why, as I mentioned a few weeks ago in the Royal Tunbridge  Wells Property Blog, the demand for rental properties will only continue to steadily rise in the coming decade. If want to know where the Royal Tunbridge  Wells Property market is heading and where you should (and shouldn’t buy), maybe the one place you should visit is the Royal Tunbridge  Wells Property Blog 

Two Speed Royal Tunbridge Wells Property Market?

Property values in Royal Tunbridge Wells are still 1.27%  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 Royal Tunbridge Wells landlord’s point of view, the Royal Tunbridge Wells 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 Royal Tunbridge Wells.  

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 Royal Tunbridge Wells.

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’ Royal Tunbridge Wells people wanting to become landlords for the first time. In Royal Tunbridge Wells, the highest returns for the lowest investment are at the lower end of the market eg the classic apartment. Unfortunately apartments , with two bedrooms are coming to the market in smaller numbers than the larger four bed’s  in  top end sectors of the Royal Tunbridge Wells property market. When looking at the actual numbers, in the later part of the Summer of 2014 in Royal Tunbridge Wells, in one month alone 78 one bed apartments were on the market in Royal Tunbridge Wells. However, in January this year, a notoriously excellent bumper month for properties coming on to the market, there were only 51 one bed apartments on the market in Royal Tunbridge Wells to choose from. Today, that figure stands at only 46 ..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 Royal Tunbridge Wells, (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 Royal Tunbridge Wells 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 Royal Tunbridge Wells, thus narrowing the gap for people looking to move up market!

Royal Tunbridge Wells Property Market – What is really happening?

I had an interesting conversation with a local Royal Tunbridge Wells accountant the other day. He is quite an observant chap (I know this because I have known him for a few years .. but I suppose you have to be to be an accountant!). Anyway, he mentioned a few things he had noticed recently in Royal Tunbridge Wells, one that Royal Tunbridge Wells property prices had gone up in the last few years but nowhere near the growth levels that were being achieved in central London, and secondly, that he thought the number of for sale boards in Royal Tunbridge Wells (and more importantly ones with sold slips on them)  had increased over the last couple of years.

The rate of house price inflation in Royal Tunbridge Wells continues to slow with growth of 10.4% in the 12 months to February compared to 11% just under six months ago, according to the latest Land Registry data. However, there is considerable local variation with house price growth ranging from 7.7%  in East Sussex  to 12%  in Medway over the last 12 months.

Whilst Royal Tunbridge Wells hasn’t seen the 20%+ per year in house price growth of London over the last couple of years,  Royal Tunbridge Wells has seen  a sharp uplift in the number of properties sold throughout  2014 as base line demand for housing grows, which suggests there is substance to the recent pick-up in house price growth in the town.  Since the Second World War in the UK, when the number of properties sold has grown, property values grew soon after. The 16.9% uplift in property transactions in Royal Tunbridge Wells in 2014, compared to 2013, indicates the most significant recovery in house market activity in Royal Tunbridge Wells (outside London) since 2007.

When you compare Royal Tunbridge Wells with London, you could be looking at two different countries. 

In London, its mid/late teens house price to earnings ratios are impacting demand (ie the average property value is often 15 or 17 times the average wage in London .. in fact in Knightsbridge the ratio can be 30 to 1).  However, the number of people wanting to sell has dropped considerably, meaning that falling sales volumes combined with a general slowdown in activity in the run up to the General Election are resulting in lower mortgage approvals for home purchase.

Transactions are a great indicator for house prices. The acceleration in house price growth in London in the last two years was preceded by three years of rising transactions. A similar pattern is being registered in the Royal Tunbridge Wells area, as pent up demand returns to the market supported by low mortgage rates and an improving economic outlook.

But before you get the Champagne out, while the uplift in activity is welcome news, the number of Royal Tunbridge Wells property sales in 2014 are still 23.1% lower than the level seen in 2007 and property values are 3.2% above  the 2007 levels. The ongoing housing recovery is far from broad based and remains focused on middle to higher value areas within Royal Tunbridge Wells where households have equity and find it easier to access mortgage finance. 

Rents Paid By Tenants In Royal Tunbridge Wells On The Rise

With Easter just gone and considering we are a quarter of the way through 2015, I was talking to landlord from Langton Green the other day about what is happening to the level of rents that are being achieved in the Royal Tunbridge Wells property market.

In terms of rents in Royal Tunbridge Wells, it appears that rents being achieved for new rentals (ie when the tenant moves out and new tenant moves in) have risen in the order of 3.8% in the last 12 months on top of the range modern properties, yet remained static for older Victorian terraced houses and converted apartments. However, landlords with existing sitting tenants, irrespective of age are not increasing their rents, as most landlords prefer to keep their existing tenant paying the same rent and have the peace of mind that their tenant remains, paying the rent (thus reducing the risk of a void period).

It must be remembered rents dropped by 2% over 2008/9, due to oversupply in the rental market in 2009.) A lot of the people who couldn’t sell their property in Royal Tunbridge Wells in 2008/9 when the Credit Crunch hit in 2008, decided to let their house out instead of selling at a loss. In fact, the number of houses on the market in Royal Tunbridge Wells dropped by 62.6% between October 2008 and March 2010, a lot of which came on to the rental market in Royal Tunbridge Wells. However, looking at the longer term though, tenants have had it good  because since the turn of the Millennium, average wages have grown by 46%, but rents outside London have only grown by 36% rental growth over this period

I told the landlord that there is a lack of new rental properties in Royal Tunbridge Wells coming on the market, in fact according to the Office of National Statistics, there are only 37 new rental properties are coming to the market each month in Royal Tunbridge Wells but the population of Royal Tunbridge Wells is rising by 91 people a month – something will have to give soon! This is compounded by the fact a number of landlords are looking to sell their rental properties in the coming months, as the property market in Royal Tunbridge Wells has improved. This further compounded as tenants in existing rental properties appear to be staying in properties for longer periods of time.

Looking at the rents charged in Royal Tunbridge Wells, historic evidence in the UK suggests private market rents have moved in line with general inflation. Government figures only go back as far as the year 2000, but looking at other countries with similar housing markets (America, Australia, Ireland and Holland) the fact is rents paid by tenants tend to rise in line or just ahead of inflation.

As short term wage growth in Royal Tunbridge Wells has eased off recently, rising by only 1.3% in the last 12 months, taking average salaries in Royal Tunbridge Wells to £35,338pa, with the tax breaks announced by The Chancellor in the Budget, I believe, even though rents have kept pace with inflation in the past, renting as an option has become more affordable, and is increasingly seen as a lifestyle choice. With returning economic growth and expected increases in the rate of growth of wages, above inflation rental growth could rise.

Royal Tunbridge Wells Landlords invest £1.38bn in the Royal Tunbridge Wells Property market

South East property asking prices jumped by more than £6,400 to £363,900 in February according to Rightmove, an increase of 1.8% from January and 8.1% 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 Royal Tunbridge Wells 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 Royal Tunbridge Wells’s continual housing supply shortage, (we only built 4,479 properties in the last decade but the population of Royal Tunbridge Wells grew by 11,019), 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 Royal Tunbridge Wells landlords only last week, I said that I believe this is the new norm in the Royal Tunbridge Wells 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 Royal Tunbridge Wells.

When one looks at the historic data, in October 2008, there were 1,246 properties on the market in Royal Tunbridge Wells compared to today’s 405. Should we be worried?  Well in March 2010, there were only 465 properties for sale in Royal Tunbridge Wells but five months later in August 2010 this had jumped to 763 properties, for it to drop to 309 properties in March 2014. The number of properties on the market is a cyclical thing in Royal Tunbridge Wells, 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 Royal Tunbridge Wells 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 Royal Tunbridge Wells landlords have stepped in and bought property to rent out to them. Royal Tunbridge Wells landlords have bought 3,320 properties over the last decade (investing approximately £1.38bn buying those Royal Tunbridge Wells rental properties), meaning there were at the last count, 7,412 Royal Tunbridge Wells properties being privately rented out to tenants. 

Royal Tunbridge Wells tenants are in fact getting a good deal as well, as average rents in Royal Tunbridge Wells are 5.9% above 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 Royal Tunbridge Wells .. that is the only answer.

In the meantime, the demand from Royal Tunbridge Wells tenants for Royal Tunbridge Wells property is only set to rise over the coming years.

“The way it works in Royal Tunbridge Wells is this, you have to rent where you want to live, or buy where you don’t want to live”

I had this really interesting chat with some of my tenants the other day on renewal of their tenancy agreement. They are a lovely couple in their early thirties and I know they have decent jobs in Royal Tunbridge Wells. They have been tenants of ours for quite a while, so I know them quite well.  We got talking and I enquired if they ever thought of buying a property for themselves, to which they replied back with the title of this article. It made me think and so I did some more research into the subject which I want to share with you.

After the end of the Second World War, just over a quarter of the UK population owned their own home, the rest rented from private landlords or the local Council. If someone told you in the 1970’s and 1980’s that they rented, they were considered a second class citizen. Everyone wanted to own their own home .. it was the done thing.   We think that home ownership will inevitably happen, but it won't.

It all changed in the 1970’s, when two things happened. Firstly, the number of people who owned their own home broke through the 50% barrier in 1971 and by 1981 it was at 57%. Tied in with that, the average house prices in Royal Tunbridge Wells were doubling at one point every four years in the 1970’s so property and profit started to feed off each other.

To put that growth in context, if we were to look at the last 85 years in Royal Tunbridge Wells, in 1930, the average Royal Tunbridge Wells property was worth £825. It took 16 years for Royal Tunbridge Wells property values to double, rising to £2,041 by 1946. Another 15 years and the average Royal Tunbridge Wells property doubled again to £3,875 in 1961. The next doubling only took 10 years, as by 1971 the average Royal Tunbridge Wells property had reached £7,878 in value.

It was (as mentioned above) the 1970’s when things really took off, as by 1975 (ie only four years) they had doubled to £16,488 and they doubled again to £33,007 by 1980. It took another eight years for values to double again, as an average Royal Tunbridge Wells property reached £69,041 in 1988. Twelve years had to pass until the doubled again in 2000 (£142,054) and just six years to double again by 2006, when they reached £286,504.  Where are we today? The average property value in Royal Tunbridge Wells currently stands at £418,400.

We could blame Maggie Thatcher for making home ownership the ultimate goal, but what we now need to consider is that the country is turning on its head and we need to, as a Country,  love renting again. Some blame the banks, but obtaining a 95% mortgage is hard work, but nowhere near impossible. A typical Royal Tunbridge Wells first time buyer would only need to save £12,500 for a deposit and fees and they could buy a very decent property. For example, you could buy a property on the Ramslye Estate in Royal Tunbridge Wells, and it would be cheaper each month in mortgage payments than renting.

People might say on the surveys they want to buy, when it comes down to it. If you have been living in a top of the range large property in Culverden, but the bank will only lend you enough to buy a smaller property on the Ramslye Estate, what would you do? Don’t get me wrong, the Ramslye Estate has really pulled its socks up over the last ten years, but it isn’t Culverden, is it? Again, if you were a twenty something, what would you do? Look again at the title of the post ... “The way it works is, you have to rent where you want to live, or buy where you don’t want to live,”

With tenant demand only going in one direction, that is probably why more and more people are getting into buy to let in Royal Tunbridge Wells. With the new rules on pensions and the ability to use them to buy residential rental properties from April onwards, this could be the time for you to buy a rental property. You must take advice on your pension from a Independent Financial Advisor (there are plenty in Royal Tunbridge Wells) and you must take advice from people who know what to buy (and not to buy) in Royal Tunbridge Wells to ensure you get the best from your investment. 

Number of Rental Properties in Royal Tunbridge Wells set to rise to 9,800 by 2021

I was having an interesting chat the other day with a couple of solicitors at a Royal Tunbridge Wells business networking event, when the subject of a lack of property for first time buyers came into the conversation.  I followed the chat up with an email with my findings, findings that I would like to share with you today.

At the time of the last census in 2011, 3,401,675 properties in England were privately rented, of which it is estimated,  over 1.25 million were owned by private landlords. The rapid growth of buy-to-let is hugely controversial, especially as only ten years before that, there were only 1,798,864 properties under private renting in England. Buy to let landlords have been held responsible for forcing up property prices and preventing our younger generations from being able to buy. There is also growing resentment toward the billions of pounds in tax relief (estimated to be nearly £10 billion) landlords claim on their mortgage interest -tax relief which is not available to homeowners.

They may be asset rich thanks to recently rising property values, but let us not make the landlords the bogiemen they could easily be. Despite all these benefits enjoyed by private landlords, let us not forget the good they have done, especially in Royal Tunbridge Wells.

Property values today in Royal Tunbridge Wells are still 3.2% above the 2007 property boom levels (2007 being the peak of last property boom before everything dropped in 2008/9), yet inflation has risen by 26% in the same time frame, so in real terms, properties today are 22.8% CHEAPER than they were in 2007. Just think how low they would be without landlords buying all those rental properties in the city. Interest rates are at an all time low and first time buyers only need to save a £12,500 deposit to secure a lovely 2 bed semi in the Blackthorn Avenue area with a 95% mortgage. Forget what the papers say, first time buyers can borrow money relatively easily on a 95% mortgage and nine times out of ten, it’s cheaper to buy than rent. 

So why aren’t people buying?

The number of people choosing to rent, either for lifestyle or economic reasons, has grown over the last 15 years. I also believe they will continue to grow for some time to come (as does every report on the subject). In fact I would go as far to predict the number of rental properties in Royal Tunbridge Wells will have risen from the 7,412 properties recorded in 2011 to 9,800 by 2021. Sounds fanciful?

 Well in 2001, there were only 4,092 privately rented properties in Royal Tunbridge Wells.

It is a fact that we as a Country are more and more turning into a European model when it comes to homeownership, where the norm is renting for the first ten years, as opposed to the norm from the 1960’s to 1990’s, where first time buyers were encouraged to buy as soon as they got a job.

Tenants, in particular, will also feel the benefit from potential changes in the market. The likelihood of interest rate increases in late 2015, existing economic conditions, combined with the uncertainty of new Government manifestos following the General Election in May will result in low demand for people to buy yet also put a dampening effect on increases in rent. As long as landlords buy the right sort of property, that allows for a reasonable yield, decent capital growth, everyone will be a winner. 

Your Pension could now buy a Buy to Let property in Royal Tunbridge Wells

In a recent article, I mentioned that pension rules are changing this April. It certainly created a few emails, with people asking questions about it. Therefore, this week, I want to look a little deeper into the subject of your pension and the Royal Tunbridge Wells property market. George Osbourne, in last years’ Budget, announced pension reforms that come into effect this April, which will give people with pensions unprecedented access to their pension pot and the freedom to look for alternatives. In a nutshell, after the 6^th of April, anyone aged over 55 will be allowed to withdraw all or part of their pension pot and spend it as they wish. Until now, you were allowed to take out a quarter of it and were forced to buy an annuity policy with the rest.

However, my readers always know that I like to tell it ‘as it is’. There are always two sides to a story, good and bad. Let me tell you the bad news first. There are some hefty tax implications by taking money from your pension pot. As before, as per the old rules, the first 25% can still be withdrawn from the pension pot tax free but, here is the sting in the tail, if you take more than a quarter of your pot (25%), anything above that initial 25% level will be taxed as income. So if you took the whole lot out, the first 25% will be tax free but the remaining 75% will be taxed at your income tax rate of 20%, 40% (or even 45% if you earn over £150,000 a year) .

.. and now the good news!

Under the old scheme, if you bought an annuity, when you died your annuity normally died as well. You would have no asset to pass on to your family. Also, the returns from pensions are awful at the moment. The best rates according to Hargreaves and Lansdown (big wigs in the City) state if you were 55 years old, the best rate you would get on your annuity pension would be 4.4% fixed for life (so it would never go up) or 2.2% but the payment would go up with inflation.  The sort of rates (also known as yields in the property investing game) being achieved in Royal Tunbridge Wells are in the order of 3% to 6%.

The other aspect of property investment is how the fact property values have risen consistently over the last 50 years.  According to the Office of National Statistics, the life expectancy of a 65 year old male in Royal Tunbridge Wells is 19 years and 6 months (its only 19 years 4 months in Tonbridge). If we roll the clock back 19 years 6 months to November 1995, property values in Royal Tunbridge Wells have risen by 261% to today .. you wouldn’t have had that with your pension!   But this is the biggest win, even by taking a hit in income tax now,  by buying a property, you buy an asset that you can pass on to your family when you die.... (or the cats home if they aren’t nice to you!).

So where next? It totally depends which strategy you are going to look at, one strategy is to look to achieve relatively small rental returns (ie low yields) in an up market area which has decent capital growth or, alternatively, another strategy is to buy properties in not so good areas known to produce a high returns (ie high yields) but low capital growth (ie how much the value of the property goes up). Now, I am not financial advisor, so cannot offer financial advice on what the best thing for you with your pension is. However, I can share my knowledge and experience of the Royal Tunbridge Wells property market, what to buy, what not to buy and where to buy etc etc.  My thoughts on the Royal Tunbridge Wells Property market can always be found on the Royal Tunbridge Wells Property Blog  

Massive drop in Homeownership in Royal Tunbridge Wells

An Englishman’s home is his castle but when it comes to the UK  the ‘Brit’s are still a nation of homeowners ‘(although wasn’t it Napoleon who thought we were all shop keepers!). It  is interesting to note that up until the mid to late 1960’s, more people rented their home (albeit mostly from the local council) than owned their own. In fact, I was surprised to read that in 1921, over 75% of homes in England and Wales were privately rented with the remaining 25% being owner occupied. 

It was only after the Second World War, when the Beatles were rocking, that people started to buy instead of rent .. but instead of owning our property outright, we borrowed money from banks and building society’s to buy them and the roots of the growth of the private rental sector can be drawn back to the late 1970’s early 1980’s, when the council houses began to be sold off under the right to buy scheme.

In 2001, 71.7% of households were owner occupied in Royal Tunbridge Wells, but ten years later, that percentage dropped massively to 65.7%.  But here is the interesting part, when you look at the actual numbers of households, 30,540 households in Royal Tunbridge Wells were owner occupied in 2001. Ten years later, in 2011, that number (who owned their own home) had slightly increased to 30,999 households.

So why big drop in percentages but not in actual properties? An additional 4,479 properties were built in Royal Tunbridge Wells between 2001 and 2011, but a lot of them were bought as buy to let investments, thus more than doubling the number of private rental properties in Royal Tunbridge Wells. In fact, the number of properties in Royal Tunbridge Wells, which were privately rented, jumped from 4,092 in 2001 to 7,412 in 2011!

With the local  Council housing waiting lists being in the 5 to 10 year range for a decent property in a decent location. Therefore, with no more council houses being built, and an increasing number of people looking for a roof over their head, private renting is the only option

With every report stating the rental market will continue to grow throughout the rest of this decade and beyond, linked with high demand and limited supply in the Royal Tunbridge Wells, then if you are considering buying a property for buy to let investment in Royal Tunbridge Wells, as I don’t sell property (I’m just a letting agent), I am always happy to give you my considered opinion on which property to buy (or not as the case may be).

Is the Royal Tunbridge Wells Property market holding its breath over the General Election?

Has apathy has hit the Royal Tunbridge Wells housing market as sellers await the outcome of the general election and stricter mortgage regulation suppresses buyer demand? Rightmove reported the number of homes registered for sale per estate agent fell to its lowest level for five years in December, with available stock 10% lower than in the same month a year earlier.

Looking at Royal Tunbridge Wells, in the summer of 2014, each estate agent in Royal Tunbridge Wells had on average 18.3 properties on its books (as there were a total of 678 properties up for sale in Royal Tunbridge Wells at the peak in the summer just gone). Our research shows that number plummeted to 12.7 per agent in December.  While the lack of new properties coming onto the market in the later months of 2014 in Royal Tunbridge Wells pushed asking prices up slightly from November to December, traditionally a quiet season for the housing market, property sellers will need to work hard in 2015 to complete a sale.

The length of time a property takes to sell has ever so slightly increased over the last few months. Two bedroom properties in Royal Tunbridge Wells are now taking 80 days to sell, three bedroom 63 days, four bedrooms 61 days, but here an interesting figure, one beds are taking on average 85 days to find a buyer

2015 will be the year of the selective mover.  With only 445 brand new properties a year being built in Royal Tunbridge Wells since the turn of the Millennium, this woefully low and insufficient number of new buildings in the town over the past few decades and a systemic change in the type of properties homeowners want (with families splitting etc so we have too many larger houses and not enough smaller ones), buyers are becoming dissatisfied with, and therefore dismissive of what is up for sale.

The heat has gone out of the Royal Tunbridge Wells property market and I anticipate a moderate reduction from the high transaction volumes seen in 2014, but it most certainly isn’t icy cold. That might mean Royal Tunbridge Wells landlords could bag a bargain during this period of uncertainty, especially if the financial markets do not like the election outcome. Markets and buyers do not like uncertainty, but savvy Buy to let landlords know buy to let is a long term game, and irrespective of short term apathy, reduction in the quality and quantity of stock for homeowners to buy  or the election, if people don’t buy property they rent.  The Council aren’t building anymore properties, the council house waiting list is decades, not years for the better type of property .. the only other place to get a roof over your head .. rent a property!  Good old Bricks and Mortar! In fact with less properties coming on the market in Royal Tunbridge Wells, that will keep prices quite stable.

Therefore, if you are considering buying a property for investment in the near future, I am always happy to give you my considered opinion on which property to buy (or not as the case may be) to give you what you want from your investment. 

Pembury – the place to buy a property?

Information is so important when making decisions on what (or not) to buy when investing in Royal Tunbridge Wells property. The demand for rental properties is much greater that the supply and some circumstances, we have four to five prospective tenants for each decent property. As always the demand is much greater for properties that are good areas. Also, we are noticing that tenants are staying longer in their chosen property with some tenants signing for the third and fourth years. This is obviously causing problems from the supply side so we are relying on new investment Landlords to bring in some new properties.

 Today, I want to look at the Pembury to the North of Royal Tunbridge Wells. By knowing the different areas of Royal Tunbridge Wells, I can weigh up potential hotspots in the rental market and show potential landlords where there could be an opportunity. The majority of properties sold in Pembury during the last 12 months were terraced houses which on average sold for £236,800. Semi-detached properties had an average sold price of £343,100 and detached properties averaged at £396,100.

The overall average property in Pembury is worth £308,200, which as one would expect is lower than Royal Tunbridge Wells overall average at £348,500 or nearby Southborough at £327,800 or Matfield at £439,700.

In Pembury, there are 5,924 people living in 2,400 properties. It is the home ownership percentages that really got me interested, as it is this information, tied in with our intimate knowledge of the market, where we can match tenant demand to an under supply of rental properties. In Pembury, of those 2,400 households, 74.3%  own their property (compared to the Royal Tunbridge Wells average of 65.7%).

There are only 179 rented properties in Pembury which are in the private rented sector (meaning 7.4% of Pembury properties are privately rented compared with the Royal Tunbridge Wells average of 15.7%). The reason the private rental sector is much lower is that Pembury has a high proportion of homeowners and hardly any local authority housing. The properties do sell well, in fact 452 properties have changed hands since 2007. However, with such excellent demand from homeowners and tenants, this could be the right area to purchase your next buy to let investment. 

Therefore, if you are considering buying a property for investment in the near future, as I don't sell property, I am always happy to give you my considered opinion on which property to buy (or not as the case may be) to give you what you want from your investment. If you are a landlord, new or old, I am certainly more than happy for you to pick up the phone or visit the Royal Tunbridge Wells Property Blog 

What properties are actually selling in Royal Tunbridge Wells?

Prices up, prices down, prices stable .. the newspapers are full of good news, bad news and indifferent news about the Brit’s favourite subject after the weather .. the property market. The thing is the UK does not have one housing market. Instead, it is a patchwork of mini property markets all performing in a different way.  At one end of scale is London, which has seen average prices grow in the last twelve months by a shade under 19% (and again that is an average because some Borough’s  in London have risen by 26%) whilst in the land of Daffodils , by contrast, Wales only saw a 2% increase in property values (although in the Merthyr Valleys they dropped by over 11%).

Well we can’t ignore the rest of the UK, and we can’t forget that the Chancellor’s Stamp Duty reforms have polarised the London property markets above £1,000,000 because at the top end of the market, punitive Stamp Duty charges will dampen demand further. While the Bank of England warned of the growing London property price bubble in the Spring of 2014, even talk of a recovery in some areas was premature. In 2015, irrespective of where you are in the UK, one story will unite the patchwork quilt of markets –  really slow property value growth.

But what about Royal Tunbridge Wells? Well, we haven’t had the December figures from the Land Registry yet but the last few months’ activity and prices achieved would suggest neither house price growth nor drops.  In fact, most sellers are buyers anyway, so if you need to take less for yours, you won’t have to pay as much for the one you want to buy ... and that is good news for everyone as most move up market when they move. This is even better for landlord investors, as they can bag a bargain as well.

The question you should be asking though is not only is what happening to property prices, but which price band exactly is selling? I like to keep an eye on the property market in Royal Tunbridge Wells on a daily basis because it enables me to give the best advice and opinion on what (or not ) to buy in Royal Tunbridge Wells. 

If you look at Royal Tunbridge Wells and split the property market into four equalled sized (into terms of households) price bands. Each price band would have around 25% of the property in Royal Tunbridge Wells, from the lowest in value (the bottom 25% ) all the way through to the highest 25% (in terms of value).  Over the last two months (63 days to be precise),....

• In the lowest quartile, (those with asking prices under £227k) 96 properties have come onto the market in Royal Tunbridge Wells and 48.9% of them (47 properties have a buyer and sold stc. 
• The next quartile, between £227k to £300k, of the 101 properties that come on to the market, 35.6% of them (36 properties) have a buyer. 
• The £300k - £525k price range has seen 119 properties come on to the market, and 26.8% of the properties have a buyer (32 properties). 
• The most expensive 25%, the £525k plus range, has seen 34 of the 84 properties that came on to the market find buyers (40.4%).   

Fascinating don’t you think?

The next three months’ activity will be crucial in understanding which way the market will go this year and I honestly believe we will not see any house price growth or drops this side of the election. Election or no election, people will always need a roof over their head and that is why the property market has rode the storms of Oil crisis in the 1970’s, the 1980’s depression, Black Monday in the 1990’s, and latterly the Credit Crunch together with the various house price crashes of 1973, 1987 and 2008.

And why? Because of Britain’s chronic lack of housing will prop up house prices and prevent a post spike crash. ... there is always a silver lining when it comes to the property market!