Bexley Borough Property News

As you all know I keep a lookout for deals that I believe make an interesting investment opportunity. Part of my whole research process is looking at past sales and performances. Back end of 2014 I posted the below property on my blog as a good potential for investment. http://bexleyproperty.blogspot.co.uk/2014/10/belvedere-3-bed-with-potential-yield-of.html What happened back then? August 2015 the property was snapped up for £140,000, amazing value for a 3 bedroom split level maisonette. On the market with Apex Estates, at that time you would have been looking at £950 pcm in rent - netting the Landlord a very respectable yield of 8.1%. What about in today's market? Well let's start with the rental income. Presently a 3 bedroom flat in the area achieves £1,000 pcm quite comfortably. This improves the yield slightly to 8.6%. But what's impressive is the actual value. Mann & Co have recently received an offer of £316,000 on a 3 bedroom townhouse on the ...

The Bexley Borough Property Market is a very interesting animal and has been particularly fascinating over the last 12 years when we consider what has happened to Bexley rents and house prices. There’s currently much talk of what will happen to the rental property market following Brexit. To judge that, I believe we must look what happened in the 2008/9 credit crunch (and what has happened since) to judge rationale and methodically, the possible ramifications for long-term investors in the Bexley property market. You see, an important, yet overlooked measure is the performance of rental income vs house prices (i.e. the resultant yields over time). In Bexley (as for the rest of Great Britain), notwithstanding a slight drop in 2008 and 2009, property rentals have been gradually increasing. The income from rentals has been progressively increasing over the last 12 years. Today, they are 33.3% higher than they were at the beginning of 2005. In fact, over the last five years...

As you all know I keep a lookout for deals that I believe make an interesting investment opportunity. Part of my whole research process is looking at past sales and performances. Just over 12 months ago I posted the below property on my blog as a good potential for investment. http://bexleyproperty.blogspot.co.uk/2016/02/reasonably-priced-investment-with-624.html What happened back then? Well lets take a look at the stats. In February 2016 the property, a 2 bedroom first floor flat, was on the market with Able Estates for £165,000 and at that time you would have been looking at £950 pcm in rent. Take into account the annual Service Charge of £1,100  that would have net the Landlord a yield of 6.24%. Someone actually snapped this deal up for £160,000, thus giving them a yield of 6.43%. What about in today's market?  Well let's start with the rental income. Presently a 2 bedroom flat in the area achieves £1,000 pcm quite comfortably. This improves the yield to 6...

The next five years will see an interesting change in the Bexley Borough property market. My recent research indicates that the rent private tenants pay in Bexley Borough will rise faster than local property prices over the next five years, creating further issues for Bexley’s growing multitude of renters. In fact, my examination of statistics forecasts that: By 2022, Bexley Borough’s rents will increase by 21%, whereas Bexley Borough’s property values will only grow by 19%. Let me explain why I have come to those conclusions: Over the last five years, Bexley property values have risen by 67.7%, whilst rents have only risen by 9.7%. Throughout the last few years, and compounded in 2016, tenant demand for rental properties continued to rise, while the press stated that some landlords expect to reduce their portfolios in the next couple of years. This means that Bexley Borough tenants will have fewer properties to choose from, which will push rents higher. In fact, talking to...

2017 has started with some positive interest in the Bexleyheath property market. Taking a snap shot of it for the first quarter of 2017, the picture suggests some interesting trends when it comes to the number of properties available to buy, their asking prices, and what they are actually selling for. Let us first consider the number of properties for sale (in DA6), compared to 12 months ago: Type of Bexleyheath Property Number of Properties on the Market 12 months ago Number of Properties on the Market now % change Detached 5 8 +60% Semi 10 17 +70% Terraced 1 1 no change Apartments/Flats 10 6 -40% Together with building plots and other types of properties that don’t fit into the four main categories, there are 34 properties for sale today compared with 27 a year ago, a rise of 26%. Ne...

Investing in Bexley buy to let property differs from investing in the stock market or depositing your hard-earned cash in the Building Society. Many consider investing in the Building Society the safe option, but the returns you can achieve are awfully low (the best 2-year bond rate from Nationwide is a whopping 0.75% a year!). The Stock Market can give good returns, but most invest in stock market funds rather than spending every day on the phone to the stockbroker, making the investment quite hands off; one always has the feeling of not being in control. With buy to let, things can be more hands on. Many landlords like the tactile nature of property - you can touch the bricks and mortar. Bexley’s landlords are making their own decisions rather than entrusting them to whizz kids in Canary Wharf playing roulette with their savings. Investing in property is a long-term game. You can earn from your investment in two ways. When a property increases in value over time, this ...

The Bexley housing market has undergone a sea change in recent decades, with the Buy-to-Let (BTL) sector evolving as a key trend, for both tenants and landlords. A few weeks ago, the Government released a White Paper on housing, which I found very interesting. Notably, the private rental sector played a major part in plans for future housing, which is especially important for our growing Bexley population. In 1981, the population of Bexley stood at 217,400 and today it stands at 242,100. Currently, the private rented (BTL) sector accounts for 11.7% of households in the town. The Government wants to assist people living in these houses and help the economy by encouraging the provision of quality homes in a housing sector that has grown because of global economic forces that have pushed home ownership beyond the reach of more and more people. Things were very different with respect to home ownership in 1981: 72.95% of Bexley people owned their own home 20.8%...