As the leaves on the trees turn from green to hues of red and brown, the Stamford property market has a confident feel to it.
With
the underlying fundamentals of a continued lack of properties being built, a shortage of properties
coming to the market (both in terms of quantity and quality), and the continued
low mortgage rate environment, buyer
enquiries from first time buyers and buy-to-let landlords is strong and
motivation is even stronger given those inexpensive lending rates and general
demand caused by under supply.
Property ownership, whether it’s as a home for yourself or as a
buy-to-let investment, is a long term investment and commitment. In fact, an increasing number of landlords with
properties in Stamford have recently contacted me asking me for my thoughts on
the future of the town’s buy-to-let market.
As the politician Edmund Burke said in the 18th
century, "Those who don't know history
are destined to repeat it”. In other
words, to see the future you must look into the past.
Since the millennium,
the housing market has had everything thrown at it; the recent Brexit result,
last year’s general election, the near melt down of the world economy with the ‘credit
crunch’, The dot com boom (and bust), the housing market crisis in 2008, the
housing boom of 2001 to 2004 … the list goes on. To demonstrate this, there is a graph (courtesy
of the Land Registry) of average property values since the millennium in the South
Kesteven District Council (SKDC) area.
Even though we had the dot com bubble burst in 2000, just 2 years later
in 2002 property values in the SKDC area had risen
from £65,200 (in Jan 2000) to £87,800 - and kept rising to September 2007 when
they peaked at £180,900. Then the credit
crunch hit us and property prices continued to fall until July 2009 where they
averaged £143,800. But, look where they
are now … £190,000.
The point I am trying to get across is long term future property values
are more helpful to landlord investors than the month-by-month headline
grabbing micro movements in the property market. If you refer to the graph again you
will notice the overall growth in property values follows an upward trend BUT,
the average darts about as each month goes by.
So, don’t watch the property indexes and panic if values drop next
month or the month afterwards, because even in the glory days of 2001 to 2004
and 2012 to 2014, without fail, values always dropped slightly around Christmas. People will always need a roof over their
heads, and if they can’t buy and the council aren’t building anymore, only buy-to-let
landlords can meet that ever increasing demand.
Stamford landlords are being hit in the pocket
with the new up and coming taxation rules and, yes, we might have a bumpy ride
on the run up to Christmas (because of the points raised earlier), but Brexit
or no Brexit, the trend will be a slow and steady upward momentum of property
values, demand for rental properties and yields in the Stamford property market
into 2017 and beyond.
For professional, trustworthy advice on buying, selling, renting and managing your personal homes and property investments please call David Crooke, Owner and Managing Director.
UPP PROPERTY AGENTS
Understanding People and Property
Email: david@upp-property.co.uk
Stamford: 01780 484 554 Oakham: 01572 725 825
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