Thursday 26 November 2015

Wellfield Street property out performs Castle Green in Warrington by nearly 45%


Last week, a couple from the Appleton area came to discuss potentially investing in Buy To Let property. They were in town starting their Christmas Shopping when they decided to take me up on my offer of popping in for a chat. I really do enjoy it when people take me up on this offer especially if the person is a first-time investor. There is a lot to consider before investing in property.

One of the most important considerations you will make before investing is the balance between annual return/yield and the annual value increase/capital growth. Castle Green on the Kingswood Estate was built by McLean Homes in the early 1990’s, as one of Warrington premier roads to live on. It is one of the most sought after places to live on the West side of Warrington. The average three bedroom semi-detached house sells at around £220,000 and rents are roughly £900 per calendar month.

With this in mind, it was a surprise to find that similar sized three bedroom semi-detached houses on Wellfield Street, in Warrington, have outperformed those on Castle Green. This is because a three bedroom semi-detached house on Wellfield Street just off Lovely Lane can be bought for around £85,000) and the achievable rents can be around £550 per calendar

The yield which could be achieved from a property on Wellfield Street is around 7.7% per year. When we compare this to the possible 4.9% on Castle Green, it is nearly 45% higher on Wellfield Street. However, we must remember that yield is not the sole consideration when investing in Buy to Let properties. The average value of a three bedroom semi-detached house on Wellfield Street in 2000 was £49,950 which has since risen by 41% in the last 15 years. A three bedroom semi-detached house on Castle Green in 2000 was £104,000, meaning the value has increased by an impressive 111% in the same 15 years.

If you would like to know more about the Warrington Property Market, then for more articles like this, please keep visiting my Blog weekly - if you would like to join my monthly email list email me on manoj@hamletwarrington.co.uk and I will send you a pdf newsletter once a month with research I have wrote regarding the Warrington property market, if you are in the area feel free to pop into the office we are based on6 Bankside, Crosfield St, WA1 1UP plenty of free parking and the kettle is always on.

Don't forget to visit the links below to view backdated deals and Warrington Property News. 


Website, http://www.hamlethomeswarrington.co.uk/

#warrington #investments #property #warrington #landlords #buytolet #property-buy #capital-growth #investments #property #property-capital-growth #warrington  #letting-agent #lettings-agent #letting-agents #lettings-agents #Investors

Thursday 19 November 2015

Warrington Tenants Pay 36.35% of their Salary in rent





I had an interesting chat with a local Warrington Accountant yesterday about my thoughts on the Warrington property market. The subject of the affordability of renting in Warrington came up in conversation (there’s a surprise) and how that would affect tenant demand. Everyone wants a roof over their head, and since the 1940s, owning your own home has been an aspiration of many of us.  However, with rents at record highs, many are struggling to save enough for a house deposit.

Let’s be honest, it’s easy to get stuck in a cycle of paying the rent and bills and not saving, but even saving just a small amount each month will sooner or later add up.  George Osborne announced such schemes as the upcoming Help to Buy ISA, where the Government will top up a first-time buyers deposit.

I thought I would do some research into the Warrington property market and share with you my findings.  Warrington tenants spend on average just over a third of their salary to have a roof over their head.  According to my latest monthly research, the average cost of renting a home in Warrington is £650 per month.  When the average annual salary of a Warrington worker stands at £21,458 per year, that means the average Warrington tenant is paying 36.35% of their salary in rent.  I doubt there is much left to save for a deposit towards a house after that, and that my Warrington Property Blog reading friends is such a shame for the youngsters of Warrington.

You see one of the reasons for rents being so high is property prices being high.  As I have mentioned before, there is a lack of new properties being built   It’s the classic demand vs supply scenario, where demand has increased, but the number of houses being built hasn’t increased at the same level.  Also, Warrington people aren’t moving home as often as they did in the 80’s and 90’s, meaning there are fewer properties on the market to buy.  If you recall, a few weeks ago I said back in Winter 2007, there were over 1,600 properties for sale in Warrington and since then this has steadily declined year on year, so now there are only 354 for sale in the town.

So, the planners in Warrington haven’t allowed enough properties to be built in the town and existing Warrington homeowners are not moving home as much as they used to, thus creating a double hit on the number of properties to buy.  This is a long term thing and the continuing diminishing supply of housing has been happening for a number of decades and there simply aren’t enough properties in Warrington to match demand. These are the reasons houses prices in Warrington have remained quite buoyant.

However, things might not be all doom and gloom as originally thought, as a recent Halifax Survey  (their Generation Rent 2015 Survey) suggested  more and more people may be long-term, if not lifelong tenants. In fact there is evidence in the report to suggest that the perception of how difficult it is to get on the housing ladder is vastly different between parents and people aged 20 to 45.  It seems from this survey that the state of the UK economy has shifted priorities quite significantly in quite a short space of time.  With fewer people able to save up the deposit required by mortgage lenders, more and more people are continuing to rent.  This delay in moving up the property ladder has driven rents across the UK up as more people are seeking rental properties.

 It is often said that more people in central Europe rent for longer or never own their own property. The last two census in 2001 and 2011 show that proportionally the percentage of people who own their own home in Britain is slowly reducing and, as a country, we are becoming more and more like Germany.   That isn’t a bad thing as Germany is considered to have a more successful economy, one of the main stays, often quoted,  is because they have a much more flexible and mobile workforce, (which renting certainly gives) and from that, they have a higher personal income than in the UK.


Therefore, if we are turning into a more European model and the youngsters of Warrington and the Country have changed their attitudes, demand for rental properties will only and can only go from strength to strength, good news for Warrington tenants as wages will start to rise and good news for Warrington landlords, especially as property values in Warrington are now 8.8% higher than a year ago!

If you would like to know more about the Warrington Property Market, then for more articles like this, please keep visiting my Blog weekly - if you would like to join my monthly email list email me on manoj@hamletwarrington.co.uk and I will send you a pdf newsletter once a month with research I have wrote regarding the Warrington property market, if you are in the area feel free to pop into the office we are based on6 Bankside, Crosfield St, WA1 1UP plenty of free parking and the kettle is always on.
Don't forget to visit the links below to view back dated deals and Warrington Property News. 


Website, http://www.hamlethomeswarrington.co.uk/

#warrington #investments #property #warrington #landlords #buytolet #property-buy #capital-growth #investments #property #property-capital-growth #warrington  #letting-agent #lettings-agent #letting-agents #lettings-agents #Investors

Wednesday 18 November 2015

Cartwright Street Warrington potentially yielding 7.4%






Good Afternoon Warrington property hunters, take a look at this property up with our friends over at Ashtons in Great Sankey.

This is a 2 bedroom mid terraced on Cartwright Street in Warrington - this street is just off Lovely Lane and about 5minutes walk to the Hospital. So this gives you a good idea of location. The property is 10 minutes walk to town and has a co-op and spar in 5 minutes walking distance, the house is also close to schools.




Other than laying some carpets on a few of the floors the house is pretty much in a ready to let state. A property in this area will let for around £495pcm and as the property is on the market for £79,995 you will achieve a yield of 7.4% however (always a however) a property on the same street finish to a much higher standerd sold for £76,500 althought the property is slightly smaller it has some perks for examaple a large kitchen downstairs and an upstairs bathroom rather than a downstairs bathoom.


It is worth negotiating the the price before you purchase, dont be expecting much capital growth with this property in the future (peak around £93k - in 2004) so if your after some cashflow then this is your property providing you negotiate a good price with the vendor.




Like always feel free to drop me an email or give me a call and I can guide you much more clearer that way - I am happy to attend viewings with you to give you my thoughts on this particular property or any other properties you have seen around Warrington.

If you are in the area then feel free to pop in for a chat we are based at 6 Bankside, Crosfield St, Warrington, WA1 1UP the kettle is always on! you can also send me any property links you have to my email address which is manoj@hamletwarrington.co.uk I will be able to give you my opinion on them before you arrange viewings.


Dont forget to visit the links below to view back dated deals and Warrington Property News. 





#warrington #investments #property #warrington #landlords #buytolet #property-buy #capital-growth #investments #property #property-capital-growth #warrington  #letting-agent #lettings-agent #letting-agents #lettings-agents


Thursday 12 November 2015

How EU Migration has changed the Warrington Property Market



The argument of migration and what it does and doesn’t do for the Countries economic well being is something that had been hotly contested over the last few years. More so as the EU referendum closes in on us. In my article today, I want to talk about what it has done for the Warrington Property market.

Before we look at Warrington though, let us look at the some interesting figures for the country as a whole. Between 2001 and 2011, 971,144 EU citizens came to the UK to live, and of those, 171,164 of them (17.68%) have bought their own home. It might surprise people that only 5.07% of EU migrants managed to secure a council house. However, 676,091 (69.62%) of them went into the private rental sector. This increase in population growth in the country has from the EU, no doubt, has added fuel to the UK housing market.

Looking at the figures, the housing market which undoubtedly is the strongest effected by migration has been the private rented housing sector, especially in those areas where migrants come together and indeed, I have seen that many EU migrants often compete for such housing not with UK tenants, but with other EU migrants. In 2001, 3.68 million rented a property from a landlord in the UK. Ten years later and by 2011, whilst EU migration added those additional 676,091 people who rented a property from a landlord, an additional 4.14 million people who become tenants were not EU migrants, but predominately British!

As a landlord, it is really important to gauge the potential demand for your rental property, especially if you are a landlord who buys property in areas popular with the Eastern European EU migrants. To gauge the level of EU migration (and thus demand), one of the best ways to calculate the growth of migrants is to calculate the number of people who ask for a National Insurance number (which EU members are able to obtain).

Interestingly, in Warrington, migration has been steady over the last few years. For example, in 2007 there were 1,502 migrant national Insurance cards (NIC) issued and the year after in 2008, 938 NIC cards were issued. However, in 2014, this had risen to 1,425 NIC’s. However, if the pattern of other migrations since WW2, over time there will be increasing demand for owner occupied property, which may affect the market in certain areas of high migrant concentration. On the other hand, over time some households move into the larger housing market, reducing concentrations and pressures.

In essence, migration has affected the Warrington property market, it couldn’t fail to because of the additional 12,584 working age migrants that have moved into Warrington area since 2005. However, it has not been the main influence on the market. Property values in Warrington today are in fact 1.3% lower than they were in 2005. According to the Office of National Statistics, rents by tenants in the Warrington area have only grown on average by 0.69% a year since 2005 .... I would say if it wasn’t for the migrants, we would be a fair worse position when it came to the Warrington property market. This is backed up by the then Home Secretary Theresa May back in 2012, that more than a third of all new housing demand in Britain is caused by inward migration and that there is evidence that without the demand caused by such immigration, house prices would be 10% lower over a 20 year period.

If you would like to know more about the Warrington Property Market, then for more articles like this, please keep visiting my Blog weekly - if you would like to join my monthly maillist email me on manoj@hamletwarrington.co.uk and I will send you a pdf newsletter once a month with research I have wrote regarding the Warrington property market, if you are in the area feel free to pop into the office we are based on 6 Bankside, Crosfield St, WA1 1UP plenty of free parking and the kettle is always on.
Don't forget to visit the links below to view back dated deals and Warrington Property News. 

Website, http://www.hamlethomeswarrington.co.uk/

#warrington #investments #property #warrington #landlords #buytolet #property-buy #capital-growth #investments #property #property-capital-growth #warrington  #letting-agent #lettings-agent #letting-agents #lettings-agents #Investors


Thursday 5 November 2015

Warrington property market review for October 2015

It's that time again for a review of what has been happening in the sales & lettings market in the Warrington area throughout October 2015 (figures obtained from Rightmove and do not include private lets):




From the October rental figures above, all types and sizes of property have either the same or fewer available right now when compared to this time last year, with the exception of 1 beds of which are almost 27% more numerous now than last year - however, anyone looking for such a property will also know that smaller, cheaper properties such as these get snapped up virtually instantly, so although there were more available, they were off the market in record time (we often let such properties within a week or 2 at the most). Houses with 2 & 3 bedrooms continue to dominate the market at virtually the same ratio as last year, but at the top end it is the larger properties that have really fallen, with 12% fewer 4 beds and an amazing 30% fewer 5+ beds (just 7 were even listed across the whole of the market).

The size of the rental market is virtually the same size as it was a year ago however demand has increased significantly as private renting is fast becoming the default option for almost all of the next generation - they know what they want and how much to pay, but they won't be taken for fools and just rent any old thing.

So, as an investment property, what should you buy to maximise your exposure to the broadest possible market?  Isn't it better to look for trends in the current market and see where to hit demand head on?

Demand is always strong for rentals consisting of up to 3 bedrooms, with this end of the market accounting for 75% of everything that is out there right now. If you had money to spend on a buy-to-let property I would certainly not invest in anything larger than a 3 bed house, demand just is not there. In fact, 2 bedroom houses and flats alone accounted for over 36% of the total by themselves, and this is consistently the peak of the market for rental demand, month in and month out. Rents on most 2 beds are now in excess of £475 PCM, significantly more so for really well appointed properties which can approach and now in some cases exceed £525 PCM. Even 1 beds are now regularly advertised at around £425 PCM and many are achieving above this without a problem. Now summer is behind us, there will be a push for the next 6-8 weeks as people try to move before Christmas, as nobody wants to risk not being moved or worse still, being homeless at that time of year. 

On the sales side of the market, there was an increase of 53 (7%) for sale, with more or the same number available in all sizes except for 1 beds which increased by a staggering 33%. This is partly due to the meteoric resale price rises, and landlords or owners wanting to release the cash, with 1 bed houses shooting from around £55k to £65k in a little over a year, with the whole market now seeing an average rise across all house sizes of 8.1% year on year. We are still seeing a continuation of the drought of decent properties that started in the new year, and the chances of finding a below market value (BMV) property right now virtually nil but not impossible, with projects, renovations and poorly presented houses still selling for what many would consider to be 'silly money', because right now everyone wants to be back on the property ladder and will pay pretty much whatever it takes in order to do so.   

If you are one of the hundreds of potential investors reading this blog daily and would like advice about what to buy next, where to buy it and what to pay, then call us now on 01925 235 338 or pop into our offices on 6 Bankside Crosfield St, WA1 1 UP for impartial and friendly advice.

Don't forget to visit the links below to view back dated deals and Warrington Property News. 



Website, http://www.hamlethomeswarrington.co.uk/

#warrington #investments #property #warrington #landlords #buytolet #property-buy #capital-growth #investments #property #property-capital-growth #warrington  #letting-agent #lettings-agent #letting-agents #lettings-agents #Investors

Monday 2 November 2015

Check out the Yield and Capital in this Warrington Terrace 9.6%



Good Afternoon readers - I know the deal have not been as frequent however thats about to change, I will be posting 2 deals of the week every week. To start it off take a look at this GEM of a property.

On the market at £50k which is a steal, the location is extremely popular for renters, this is due to a selection of local schools in walking distance from each other, town centre is also a 10 minute stroll.

Anyway let's get to the nitty gritty, as I know the void on a property in this area is very low and you will get the pick of a lot of enquiries.

This is a very big 2 bedroom terraced, not just your usual two up two down. It has two reception rooms and a large kitchen to the rear. What I usually find with these properties are the bathroom tends to be downstairs and right at the back of the house which can put a lot of people off however in this case the bathroom is upstairs, as well as an extra toilet room.

As you can see from the photographs this will need a full refurb - I estimate around £10k-£15k will need to be spent on this, It may need be a case of taking it back to brick and starting again with the electrics and plumbing. So you will be looking closer to the £15k it may even be slightly more.

I believe if this refurb is done correctly then the property will achieve around £525 pcm  so if we use the figure of £15k refurb cost then you can achieving a yield of 9.6%

Take a look at another property on the same street which is very similar in terms of size and layout although there bathroom is downstairs. Sold for £120k earlier this year. This shows you that even if you spent a good £20k on getting this property to a high standard not only are you going to achieve great yields you will also achieve good capital growth.


This is a no brainer. Give the agents a call and arrange a viewing. Remember im always here to share my knowledge, if you would like me to pop along on the viewings to do my own pricing on what i think needs doing and what i think it will cost then feel free to give me a call on 01925 235 338 or drop me an email on manoj@hamletwarrington.co.uk sometimes an extra set of eyes will spot something you may have missed. I will always give you my honest opinion whether thats good news or bad news.