Bexley Borough Property News

April Fools’ Day 2016 was no joke for some landlords, as they rushed to make buy to let property purchases throughout late March to beat the extra 3% stamp duty George Osborne imposed on such properties after the 31 st . All the property professionals in the borough have noticed that the demand to buy from these landlords has eased since April and May. The Brexit issue is also having a tempering effect. You may recall that I wrote about this a few weeks ago, stating that Brexit won’t prompt the end of the world scenario some suggest. In another article, I spoke of the growth rate of Bexley Borough property values and how, whilst the rate of growth is slowing, Bexley Borough property values are still 13.3% higher year on year, although the month on month growth rate has started to moderate compared with the heady days of 2014 and 2015.  Intriguingly, a recent members’ survey of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors states that only 17% believed property values would ...

Renting was a dirty word in the 60s and 70s. You either lived in a “Rigsby Rising Damp” style bedsit with wood chip on the wall and a coin-operated electric meter (that buzzed in the night), or you lived in a council house. In the latter part of the 20 th century, the British believed that rent payments were “wasted money”. However, nowadays owning often makes less financial sense than renting. Everyone is doing it now, and the rate of homeownership is starting to drop substantially. The stigma that there was once is gone. In fact, of the 283,134 residents of Bexley, 71,088 of us rent from either the local authority/social provider (i.e. the council or a housing association) or private landlords. That means that 25.10% of Bexley people are tenants. The idea of homeownership is deeply embedded in the British soul. 208,009 (73.46%). Bexley people live in an owner-occupied property. Housing is at the heart of government policy, as they have promised 200,000 new properties a year so ...

A few months ago, I was grabbing a quick bite to eat from Melucci’s in Bexley Village when a suited gentleman approached and asked if I am the person who writes the newsletters about the Bexley Borough property market. We ended up having an interesting chat about the local property market, as he was concerned that his daughter would never be able to buy a place in Bexleyheath she can call home. Using the Land Registry and Office of National Statistics, I have done some research that shows that overall, month on month, Bexleyheath property values increased by 1.2%. The year on year figures demonstrate that the value of residential property in Bexleyheath has increased by 13.3% in the year to the end of February 2016, taking the average value of a property in the council area to £323,700. When we look at the last few months’ figures and see the patterns that seem to be emerging, things get even more interesting: ·          January 201...