Where have the bargains gone?

With an increasing army of landlords looking to invest in property, I’ve been looking extra hard recently in Northampton and Rugby to find some good deals. It hasn’t been easy!

At the start of the year there was a steady run of property coming to the market that would deliver a yield of 7% or more – they sold very quickly, but if a purchaser was lightening fast he could secure himself a deal.

That hasn’t been the case for the last couple of months though – there’s been very little new coming to the market, and what does appear seems to be selling for more than investors want to pay. In particular people seem to be buying repossessed property for 5 or 10% more than they were 12 months ago.

For potential investors, the Rugby market has been particularly poor. A couple of Belvoir landlords have picked up properties in 2011 that have offered a decent yield, but these have been the exception rather than the rule. £100,000 in Rugby will buy you a Victorian Terrace that rents for about £525PCM, whereas the same money spent in Northampton will generate £575PCM. The Rugby market is smaller and it may be that simple supply and demand enables vendors to achieve a better price when they come to sell. From a rental perspective, the demand for rental property remains massive though – our office can let pretty much anything that comes to the market at less than £700PCM and is in good internal order! There’s slightly less tenant demand as the rental price increases, but not so much that properties are sitting there empty.

In Northampton, as stated above, yields are generally more favourable. Fast moving landlords have been able to pick up properties that yield at 8, 9 and 10%, but have inevitably had to go into the more salubrious areas of town to do this. It remains the case that £795PCM is achievable on any property with 4 or more bedrooms – and in some areas you can pick up a 4 bed for £90 to £100k. It’s not hard to see why landlords move quickly when these properties arise!

Of late though, there has been a shortage of properties available. Certainly some estate agents are reluctant to deal with me, as I’m viewed as a competitor, so getting to hear about really good deals can be tricky. That said I don’t see too many things selling cheaply that I’ve missed. Estate agents also seem able to get better offers on repossessed property than my landlords would want to pay – not massively, just a few thousand pounds. This could be the result private purchasers paying a bit more for what is still a relatively good deal? I also suspect that Estate agents, when valuing repossessed properties on behalf of banks, are quoting higher prices which means that some repossessions are hanging around for a few months rather than selling quickly. It may hence be that we see prices soften as we approach the end of the year.

There are still some good buys in the nicer areas of town. These suit landlords who aren’t solely after yield and for whom the area the property is in carries more importance.  In a depressed property market, the nicer areas never see prices falling as much as the poorer areas, as estate agents can always find buyers. However some landlords have been able to pick up easy-rental property for ‘below market value’ (and I hate this term – do people seriously believe that people routinely go about selling property for less than it’s worth?) when a vendor is keen to sell quickly. Examples include:

·              1 bed house in East Hunsbury, rents at £475PCM, sold for about £88k.

·              3 bed house in West Hunsbury, rents at £675PCM, sold for £112k.

·              3 bed house in Far Cotton, rents at £575PCM, sold for £100k.

Whilst I’m in regular contact with most of my active investors, I’m conscious that I haven’t spoken to some of you in a while! If you want to update me on what you’re looking for, and what your current purchasing criteria is, please pop me an email!

Richard.