Fewer people are moving house in Flitwick

Fewer people are moving house in Flitwick

Well the dust has settled and the General Election seems a distant memory, we can get back to a more normal property market, or that is what the London based ‘Fleet Street’ journalists would lead you to believe.  You see I have been talking to many fellow property professionals in Flitwick (solicitors, conveyancers and one the best sources of info – the chap who puts all the estate agent and letting boards up in Flitwick, and all of them, every last one of them told me they didn’t see any change over April in business, compared to any other month on the lead up to the Election itself.

 I am now of the opinion that maybe in the upmarket areas of Mayfair and Chelsea, the market went into spasm with the prospect of a Labour/SNP pact with their Mansion Tax for properties over £2,000,000, but in little old Flitwick and the surrounding villages, there haven’t been any properties sold above £2,000,000 mark in the last 5 years and only five above the £1,000,000 mark.

In a nutshell, the General Election in Flitwick didn’t really have any impact on people’s confidence to buy property.  As I write this article, of 71 properties that have come on to the market in Flitwick  since the 2^nd of April, 39 of them have a buyer and are sold subject to contract, that’s nearly one in three (54.93% to be precise).

I think that things are starting to change in the way people in Flitwick (in fact the whole of the country as I talk to other agents around the UK) buy and sell property.  Back in the 1970’s, 80’s and 90’s, the norm was to buy a terraced house as soon as you left home and do it up.  Meanwhile, property prices had gone up, so you traded up to a 2 bed semi, then a 3 bed semi and repeated the process, until you found yourself in a large 4 bed detached house with a large mortgage. 

Looking into this a little deeper like I have said in previous articles Flitwick people’s attitude to homeownership itself has changed over the last ten years.  The pressure for youngsters to buy when young has gone as renting, not buying, is considered the norm for 20 something’s. This isn’t just a Flitwick thing, but, a national thing, as I have noticed that people buy property by trading up (or down) because they need to, not because ‘it’s what people do’.  This does means there are a lot less properties on the market compared to the last decade.

A by-product of less people moving is less people selling their property. My research shows there are a lot fewer properties each month selling in Flitwick compared to the last decade.  For example, in February 2015, only 8 properties were sold in Flitwick. Compare this to February 2002, and 32 properties sold and the same month in 2004, 28 properties.  I repeated the exercise on different sets of years, (comparing the same month to allow for seasonal variations) and the results were identical if not greater.  So what does this all mean?  Demand for Flitwick property isn’t flying away, but with fewer properties for sale, it means property prices are proving reasonably stable too. Stable, consistent and steady growth of property values in Flitwick, year on year, without the massive peaks and troughs we saw in the late 1980’s and mid/late2000’s might just be the thing that the Flitwick property market needs in the long term.

If you'd like a chat about investing in the local area then give me a call on 01525 838848 or email graham@1st-house-lettings.co.uk and i'll get back to you personally. Or you can visit our website - http://www.1st-house-lettings.co.uk/

5.51% Yield in Marston Moretaine

http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-52995116.html?premiumA=true

This is a nice property for investment, and we've just let a similar one in Silsoe (Silsoe Coach House) for £850 per month. 123 years left on the lease, two parking spaces, courtyard garden, detached property and A/B rated on the EPC - it's pretty good!

It's up for £185k, meaning a 5.51% gross yield if bought for the asking price. If you could get this for £175-£180k then it's an even better return.

If you'd like a chat about investing in the local area then drop me an email - graham@1st-house-lettings.co.uk or call 01525 838848.

Is the Ampthill Property Market in crisis?

Is the Ampthill Property Market in crisis?

Since the 1960’s more people have owned their own home than rented but, for many young Ampthill people, the dream of buying their own home is dying...or is it? Since the turn of the Millennium, in Ampthill (as in the rest of the Country) there has been a significant change in the proportion of people who own their own home in Ampthill. In 2001, 82.2% of homes in Ampthill were owner occupied, today the figure is 77.6%, 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 Ampthill, only 52.83% of 25 to 34 year olds have a mortgage. When you compare Ampthill 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 210% since the early Spring of 1995 in Ampthill, 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 Ampthill are renting instead of buying. 

The issue quite simply comes back down to a lack of new homes being built. In Ampthill, only 11 properties a year are being built whilst the population is rising by 27 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.

If you're considering investing in Ampthill, Flitwick or the surrounding area's then give me a call on 01525 838848 or drop me an email - graham@1st-house-lettings.co.uk and i'll get back to you personally.

5.25% Gross Yield for 2 Bedroom Flat in Flitwick

5.25% Gross Yield for 2 Bedroom Flat in Flitwick

If you're looking to buy an investment property in the MK45 area for under £220k there isn't a lot of choice around at the moment, but this seems like the best of the bunch. It's a tidy, two bedroom ground floor flat, with a garden and garage. 

Bluebell Close Flat

This would easily rent for £700 per month in the current market, possibly more with demand for 2 bedders the way it is at the moment. That would mean a minimum 5.25% gross yield if bought for the asking price of £160k. There's also a new 125 year lease that's just been created, but as always do some due diligence on any ground rent and maintenance charges when it comes to flats.

Property Values rise by 1.5% in Flitwick

Property Values rise by 1.5% in Flitwick 

Property values in Flitwick rose by 1.5 % in March. This follows several months of sluggish activity in the Flitwick property market in the run up to the Election, putting the average price of a property in Flitwick at £247,000, 9.5% higher than in March 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 Flitwick. Data from the Land Registry said completed house sales in Flitwick in the three months to January 2015, (the most up-to-date figures available) fell by 8.74% compared to the same three month period up to January 2014.

However, I believe that the slowdown in property sales in Flitwick is supporting Flitwick property values, as there is a shortage of houses coming onto the market. Even though in the whole of the first Quarter of 2015, Flitwick 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 Flitwick 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 Flitwick, is creating a severe imbalance in the Flitwick (in fact the whole of UK’s) housing market, thus making homeownership an ever increasingly distant dream for many of Flitwick’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 Flitwick 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 Flitwick property market is a long-term strategy of 10, 20 even 30 years. Governments come and go, but unless Central Bedfordshire Council start to build hundreds of new properties a year to make up for the shocking lack of supply, Flitwick 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 Flitwick landlord clients will testify, whether you manage your property yourself, or another Flitwick agent manages your properties, everyone is always made to feel welcome when they pop in for a coffee at our offices in Flitwick to discuss anything to do with the Flitwick property market, and how Flitwick 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. 

Feel free to call me on 01525 838848 or email graham@1st-house-lettings.co.uk, and we can arrange a chat over a coffee at my office in The Rufus Centre, Steppingley Road, Flitwick, MK45 1AH - located near the leisure centre and new development.