What does the General Election result mean for the Warrington 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 Warrington property market. Talking to other Warrington agents, surveyors and solicitors in the area over the last few days, there are signs this has started a new impetus in the Warrington property market after a subdued six months, when an amalgamation of tougher lending conditions, a natural correction after the strong recovery in Warrington 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 Warrington 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 portfolio. Now that uncertainty has been removed, the long term picture is very positive.

So, where next for the Warrington property market? Well, with inflation at zero and with the Money Markets happy that 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 larger deposits will now be wooed by the mortgage companies in the coming months with low rates.

Over the past couple of years, Warrington landlords have benefitted from a booming Warrington job market. Unemployment in the city has dropped, as a year ago, 4,483 people were claiming unemployment benefit compared with today’s 2,945. 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 Warrington properties.

  

Some landlords might be nervous about the 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. However, these 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

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, in some quarters, you were seen as a second class citizen if you rented a property. Not any more! In Warrington, 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 Warrington or thinking of becoming one, then I must recommend you seek specialist advice and opinion. Like many agents in Warrington, we will happily give you our opinion on the current state of the market and the advantages/disadvantages to investing in the Warrington property market, so why not you pop into our offices for a chat. However, if time is at a premium, another source of information on the Warrington Property Market is the Warrington Property Blog!

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Double Deal of the day in Warrington

Good Afternoon, the bank holiday weekend approaches, i hope you all have something good planned provided the weather holds! Ok so I have been doing a bit of window shopping on rightmove as per usual.. I found two gems i have to share with you property hunters.

Both of these are sound investments bringing in yields over 7%  both on the market for £79,950 i also believe there is room to negotiate and get a deal on less than the asking price, this in turn will cover the solicitors fee's and giving the property a lick of paint (£600). Brighton street is close to the hospital and tends to attract tenants who are working in the hospital. The house on Hazel St is in on the border of padgate and orford. in a great location - not to far from town and has plenty of shops and transport around the area. 

Click here to view property on Brighton St

Click here to view property on Hazel St

Don't hang around on these, arrange a viewing and make an offer. If you would like to discuss this in more detail drop me an email on tesh@hamletwarrington.co.uk or pop into the office we are at 6 Bankside, Crosfield Street.The Kettle is always on

Rents paid by tenants In Warrington are on the rise…

I was talking to a landlord from Stockton Heath the other day about what is happening to the level of rents that are being achieved in the Warrington property market. As we are a quarter of the way through 2015 i thought it would be a good idea to investigate what is happening to the rents in the Warrington area.

In terms of rents in Warrington, it appears that rents being achieved for new rentals (i.e. when the tenant moves out and new tenant moves in) have risen by 14% in the last 12 months. However, landlords with existing tenants, are generally not increasing their rents in line with this rate, as most landlords prefer to keep their existing tenant paying the same rent and have the peace of mind that their tenant remains thus reducing the risk of a void period.

It must be remembered rents nationally dropped by 7.8% over 2008/9, due to oversupply in the rental market in 2009.) A lot of the people who couldn't sell their property in Warrington 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 Warrington dropped by 27% between March 2008 and March 2010, a lot of which came on to the rental market in Warrington. 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 Warrington coming on the market, in fact according to Rightmove, there is an average of 105 new rental properties are coming to the market each month in Warrington, but when we have registered on average 210 potential tenants each month since January, 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 Warrington has improved. This further compounded as tenants in existing rental properties appear to be staying in properties for longer periods of time.

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.

If you want a chat about the local Warrington property market, pop in for a brew and at our office on Crosfield Street. We are number 6 on the bankside offices or you can always email me on tesh@hamletwarrington.co.uk.

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Deal of the day in Warrington 7.8% yield

Good Afternoon, welcome to the start of the working week!

Just had a quick look through Rightmove and this property caught my eye. It's a 2 bedroom terraced your typical 2 up 2 down, which is always popular, Just looking at the images provided it looks like its in a good condition in a popular rental area - so its ready to move in and that means voids are at a low. On the market for £76k.

There is room to negotiate as houses on that street in the current market are selling from around £73k to £80k however similar properties on the same street sold above £85k before the crash.

So this property will rent for around £495 so not only a great yield can be achieved it also has potential capital growth

This one will go quick - act fast and give Jordans Warrington a call and arrange a viewing - put an offer in and if you would like me to attend the viewing with you to give you my advice (good or bad) just give me a call on 01925 235 338

The link below will take you to the full details on Rightmove

Click here to see property

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Have we got a dual speed property market in Warrington?

Property values in Warrington are still 0.42% 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 Warrington landlord’s point of view, the Warrington 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 Warrington.  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 Warrington.

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 to 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’ Warrington people wanting to become landlords for the first time. In Warrington, the highest returns for the lowest investment are at the lower end of the market e.g. the classic Victorian terraced house. Unfortunately Victorian terraced houses, with two bedrooms are coming to the market in smaller numbers than the larger four bedroom ones in top end sectors of the Warrington property market.

When looking at the actual numbers, in the latter part of the Summer of 2014 in Warrington, in one month alone 512 two bed houses were on the market in Warrington. However, in January this year, a notoriously excellent bumper month for properties coming on to the market, there were only 392 two bed houses on the market in Warrington to choose from. Today, that figure stands at only 302 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 Warrington, 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 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 Warrington 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 Warrington, thus narrowing the gap for people looking to move up market!

why not talk to us on (01925) 235 338 or pop in for a coffee and some free advice at our offices in Warrington. 

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Tasty 2 bedroom house in Warrington

Good afternoon property hunters, just getting back on the property band wagon to see what's out there that could potentially be a good buy to let option.

This property caught my eye, it's a 2 bedroom house in Orford, just off Orford lane. The houses in this area always seem to rent very well, bringing in healthy yields. I can see this house achieving around £475 quite easily at the moment. When you compare this to the asking price of £72,995, you could be looking at an annual return of 7.8%. much better than what the banks are offering!

As you can see from the images of the property, it is ready to let. this would rent well to a small family as there are plenty of parks in the area and schools, its a short walk to town as well.

Click here to view property

If you would like any advice on buying a property to let, please do not hesitate to contact me on tesh@hamletwarrington.co.uk or feel free to pop into the office (the kettle is always on).