Buying property near 2012 Olympic site

Thriftylad

I am thinking of investing in a buy to let property near to the site of the 2012 London Olympics. I am hoping that if I buy early then there will be significant capital appreciation in years to come as well as strong rental demand. I was wondering if anyone could recommend any areas of east London to look out for in particular, or indeed any advice as to if this would be a wise move. Thanks.

canny_yorkshireman_2

I assume the area is stratford which you are refering to which has been highlighted as a boom area for property but time will tell if it is a wise investment have a look on the property prediction thread there is some contrasting views on property investments there.

Rave

Anecdotal, but:

My dad (possibly with his partner) has just bought a flat near Gallion's Reach DLR, in a fairly large new developement (his is in the first building to be completed). I have no idea how much he paid (or how much deposit he had etc.) but his mortgage is £1700 a year. His previous flat, just across the dock, cost him £1000pcm to rent. To be fair, the new place is a smidge larger, and most importantly for them has a second bathroom, but the old place was on the 8th floor of a really posh block and had a fabulous view out over the airport, ExCeL etc. and on towards the city. When he gave notice that he intended to leave, the landlord asked if he'd be interested in buying the place.

When we went for dinner with them about a month ago, only about 40% of the flats in his completed block were actually occupied. When he went to take the keys to his old place back to the management company/estate agent, he found that they'd upped sticks and disappeared without trace leaving no contact details! Really, what all that says to me is- don't touch it with a barge pole! I think my dad has made a mistake by buying in the current climate but I don't worry much as TBH he's rich enough that he can afford for the value of his home to go down.

Really, I think this Olympics thing is just wishful thinking from people desperate to find a place that bucks the generally gloomy trend for house prices. Sure there will be some extra money going in to the area to develope the infrastructure....but there was already money going in with DLR extensions etc. Probably houses in that area will outperform the national average in the years up to 2012....but that certainly doesn't mean that they won't still lose money.

wigginsmum

I live in Walthmstow pretty close to Stratford, and we're waiting to see what happens to property prices. 5 years ago we bought our 3-bed Victorian terrace for £122k and it's now estimated to be worth around £220k, so prices have definitely gone up, but whether they'll go up further because of the Olympics is anyone else's guess.

Jules

sb007_2

The east london area is very up and coming. Property prices in general havent dropped but reather slowed down in my experience. I have also been looking at properties in that area especially around the docklands. The advice I was given was the a lot of these newer devlopments are sold on views of the thames etc. However, once s pace begins to run out the views will be taken up by new devlopments. The advice I would give is to wait and see what the market does over the next six months. People are buying in huge numbers. I was at the launch of a new development on Sunday and people were buying studio flat for more than £250k. Not only that but they were buying 5 or 6 at a time.

meanmachine_2

A fool and his money....

I don't get the Olympic thing.

For a couple of weeks in 2012 you get Fatima Whitbread living down your road and then....then what? You're left with a couple of white elephant facilities that slowly rot.

Meanwhile the rest of us have been lumbered with massive council tax rises.

meanmachine_2

sb007 wrote:

I was at the launch of a new development on Sunday and people were buying studio flat for more than £250k. Not only that but they were buying 5 or 6 at a time.

Roll up folks, there's a gold rush you is missing out on. Yeeehaaw!

I'm guessing the rental on a studio in a grotty part of East London would be 400 quid max. Hmm. Do the sums add up? I guess in "BTL world", which can be located just next door to cloud cuckoo land.

EDIT: OK, according to findaproperty you can rent a studio in Stratford for 550pcm. Let's say 600pcm for a good one. The interest only on an 85% BTL mortgage would be 900pounds.

Er yeah. That sounds like a quick way to turn gold into straw.