Buyers Market?

GreatApe

Its definitely a buyers market for the lower end in inner east London

Prices are off about 10% from 18 months ago and all my agents are saying the BTL part of the market (which is over 60-70% of the market here and always has been) is very slow.

Rents are also down about 10% from 18 months ago and void periods are higher (although still quite low). Took me 25 days to relet a flat that last year took just 1 day and at slightly reduced rent

We could potentially see another 10% down in inner London. However I would view that more as a correction rather than a crash. 100% up in 7 years followed by 10-15% down is not that bad.

GreatApe

Hackney is roughly two very seperate markets, flats which are mostly ex-locals but also some modern private developments and old terrace homes.

Comparing July 2017 (most recent land registry data) to Jan 2016 for hackney

Houses £776k to £778k so basically flat
Flats £502k to £445k so down 11%

The houses are primarily bought by owners and they seem to have held up.
The flats are primarily bought by landlords and they are down
So the taxes are having an impact although imo the lower prices wont attract FTBs the flats in inner east London arent very attractive to live in as an owner while renters in their 20s and 30s are happy to rent there as its within walking/cycling distance to the three big employment hubs.


London on average isnt doing too badly, prices are actually up for both flats and houses by about £30,000 vs Jan 2016 but as noted some areas as down

Crashy_Time

Thrugelmir wrote: »

Estate agents have record lows of property for sale on their books currently. Would appear not.

http://www.mortgageintroducer.com/first-time-buyer-house-prices-drop-10-august/#.WcT8GqyWzct

westernpromise

haf63 wrote: »

I have already gone down Ltd company route as the 99% option had implications for mortgage lending

Don't forget the company can have a pension scheme with one beneficiary (you) into which you can put the rental income.

Very efficient.

westernpromise

caronoel wrote: »

Not in my personal experience. One of my flats in Clapham Junction has just come up for renewal. The tenants didn't bat an eyelid at a 3% rise.

Rents continue to rise according to the ONS:
Main points

• Private rental prices paid by tenants in Great Britain rose by 1.6% in the 12 months to August 2017; this is down from 1.8% in July 2017.
• In England, private rental prices grew by 1.7%, Wales saw growth of 1.3% while Scotland saw rental prices increase by 0.3% in the 12 months to August 2017.
• London private rental prices grew by 1.2% in the 12 months to August 2017, that is, 0.4 percentage points below the Great Britain 12-month growth rate

.
https://www.ons.gov.uk/economy/inflationandpriceindices/bulletins/indexofprivatehousingrentalprices/august2017

Probably what we are seeing with buying prices generally is what I recall seeing in the late 80s. Back then, the prices of places like Regent's Park, St John's Wood and Little Venice went up rapidly. This in turn pulled up the price of adjoining areas like Maida Vale and Kilburn. These latter were bought up by 2TBs who couldn't afford the former, and who thought Kilburn looked cheap in comparison to the adjacent St John's Wood. So they paid up even though these adjoining areas were in parts or entirely grotty.

When the recession hit, the marginal areas tanked because they now looked overpriced. So the sitting 2TB couldn't sell on to another 2TB without dropping the price back to where it always should have been .

I suspect that anyone who bought a rathole in Hackney purely to let, thinking it cheap because it was near (but not in) somewhere half-decent (but more expensive), and who now has to offload, is now going to find it hard. Anyone with the wherewithal is going to go for somewhere a lot less 5h1tty for not a lot more money and selling to another landlord will not make sense for most landlords any more than it does for the seller himself. Any landlord who does buy will of course bid no more than an FTB.

The lesson for property owners, really, is quality above all. Counterintuitively, I think you are better off in London with one million-pound property than four £250k ones. Ordinarily you'd say the four properties were a better deal - void risk etc. But probably they're not worth £250k except to someone who can let them out, and look at what sort of tenant you're going to get in a £250k London property versus a £1 million one.

GreatApe

westernpromise wrote: »

I suspect that anyone who bought a rathole in Hackney purely to let, thinking it cheap because it was near (but not in) somewhere half-decent (but more expensive), and who now has to offload, is now going to find it hard. Anyone with the wherewithal is going to go for somewhere a lot less 5h1tty for not a lot more money and selling to another landlord will not make sense for most landlords any more than it does for the seller himself. Any landlord who does buy will of course bid no more than an FTB.

The lesson for property owners, really, is quality above all. Counterintuitively, I think you are better off in London with one million-pound property than four £250k ones. Ordinarily you'd say the four properties were a better deal - void risk etc. But probably they're not worth £250k except to someone who can let them out, and look at what sort of tenant you're going to get in a £250k London property versus a £1 million one.

Hey stop dissing my hackney rat holes!

Jan 2010 - Most recent LR Data

Hackney Houses up 93.5%
Hackney Flats up 61%

That bests England price increases over the same time also hackney homes have increased more % in value than Kensington Homes in the same timeframe.

westernpromise

I felicitate you on your ratholes :-)

My wider point is that dodgy areas on the edge of nice ones go up like a rocket and come down like a stick, which appears likelier if the 2010 class of purchaser is no longer in the picture.

I wonder if the lolly is to be made buying up both flats in a terraced house and converting them back.

kinger101

Conrad wrote: »

I come from a mortgage business background and can spot 'a waster' a fifty paces

Being devil's advocate, wouldn't it be useful to have someone who'd never save enough for a mortgage (but didn't make late payments). You'd have a long term tenant.

Think about it. Imagine you'd let to Crashy. You'd never need find another tenant (other than the inevitable end for us all).

caronoel

kinger101 wrote: »

Being devil's advocate, wouldn't it be useful to have someone who'd never save enough for a mortgage (but didn't make late payments). You'd have a long term tenant.

Think about it. Imagine you'd let to Crashy. You'd never need find another tenant (other than the inevitable end for us all).

Ha! Ha! Love it!

:rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:

Poor old Crashy. Selling up to rent twenty years ago and missing the biggest buying opportunity in history in 2009 has got to smart.

Now in fifties, living in a bedsit, and single. What a catch for the ladies

chucknorris

The-Joker wrote: »

Everybody loves these programs on TV about nightmare landlords and tenants from hell

its so difficult to get bad tenants out these days, and you know they will trash the place if they are unhappy

many times the landlord pays them hundreds of pounds to leave quietly without taking a hammer to the walls etc

I think you get much better tenants on this planet, I would hate to live on your planet, or at least hate to be a landlord there, planet Earth seems to be a much better place.