Is Buxton Avenue Heanor’s sleeping giant?

 

A landlord recently missed his chance to buy a nice three bed semi-detached property on Buxton Avenue, in Heanor, as it sold quickly. He asked me if there something special about the area, so I did a little research.

I have included roads surrounding the Buxton Avenue area such as Sunningdale Avenue, Owers Avenue and Coppice Drive amongst others in my findings. Many of these properties were built around the 1950s.

A number of the three bedroom semi-detached properties have sold in the area for between £90,000 and £135,000 in the last two years. Remember though that to prepare a property as a rental investment could take additional funds and depending on the work needed could be as much as £10,000, or more, so some of these properties may have needed some care and attention.  These properties would achieve rents of around £495-550 per month, which would provide a reasonable annual yield of around 6%.

The three bedroom semi-detached properties in the Buxton Avenue area are now asking a minimum of £125,000 and upwards. The older houses offer the tenant and buyer larger rooms, which can be more appealing.

Even though the purchase price is heading upwards, the rents being achieved are also edging upwards, meaning the annual yield is still good especially as the houses have seen great increases in value and are popular with buyers and tenants.

So, if you would like to talk to us about property in our area please feel free to visit our offices.

Ex-council properties in Ilkeston... Are they good buy to let investments?

 

In previous articles we have found that ex-council properties can achieve good annual yields of well above 7%. Yet their average value tends to stay quite stable when we compare this to the average capital growth on the more modern estates of say Shipley View, which have had a more significant rise.

Nevertheless, a three bedroomed semi-detached property on Beauvale Drive sold for £88,000 in April of this year having originally sold for £65,000 in 2011 which is a return of over 35% in less than 4 years. Another example of good capital growth from an ex-council property is a three bedroomed semi again on Beauvale Drive which was sold in 2011 for £103,000, following an increase in value of around 30% in just over two years.

The best performing property for capital growth in 2015 so far was bought in September 2011 for £69,000 and has recently sold for £160,000. This is a significant return of 132% - or over 25% per annum. However, this was not a typical rental property, it was a detached house on Cotmanhay Road!

If you would like some advice about buying to let, please come and see us at our offices.

Ilkeston Property - Do you know the Facts and Figures?

 

 

Here at Spruce Tree Lettings, we can guide you to the right places to identify property values and yields in Ilkeston and other useful property related information so you can make sure you get all the information you need about your future investments. Here are just a few property facts about our town of Ilkeston....

In the DE7 postcode there are 23,090 households, of which 26% are detached, 40% semi-detached, 32% terraced and only 2% are flats (half the county average in Derbyshire). Some 71% of all these properties are owner-occupied and around 15% are privately-rented. Looking at the sales activity over a quarter of all those houses (7,179 to be precise) have changed hands since 2005.

Compared to the national average - Ilkeston has 10% more detached houses, 20% more semi detached houses, about the same percentage of terraced houses and 89% less flats. This is a good indicator that Ilkeston is good place to buy property in.

If you would like more useful facts and figures pop in to see us at our offices.

Rents Remain Steady on Nailers Way, Belper

 

A landlord I know was interested in properties on Nailers Way, in Belper. She came in to our office to discuss the value of property suitable for renting on the street and how this has changed over time in terms of the yields one can achieve.

Looking back over the last 10 years, between 2005 and 2007, before the 2008 slowdown, 2 bed terraced and semi-detached houses tended to sell from around £95,000 depending on aspect, condition, whether mid-terraced or not and so on.

Interestingly, between 2011 and 2012, these properties were still selling on average at around £110,000, showing good resilience following on from 2008. Fast forwarding to 2015 however, we can see that 2 bed properties in the immediate area are still tending to push the £125,000 stamp duty threshold, and beyond when looking at newly built properties. Certainly, it seems, she could have done reasonably well in terms of capital growth if she had invested in this area.

We then looked at the rents over the ten years since 2005. In 2005 the average rent for 2 beds was £450 per month, a return of around 5.5%. Looking at the average rents for 2 beds in 2010, they had increased a little to between £475 and £500 per month. Now, in 2015, rents again have edged upwards and are upto £525 per month, giving a return of around 5.3% per month, which is steady in light of the capital growth also shown by these properties.

If you would like some advice with your potential investment, please come and see us in our offices.

Eastwood has some of the most affordable properties in the region

 

A landlord called me up this week to discuss the affordability of property in Eastwood, with the current regional property market being generally in recovery with increasing house prices. The best advice I can give to those looking to invest in property is one of our secret tricks of the trade. You can judge the affordability of a town by simply finding the ratio of the average property price to the average salary. The lower the ratio, the more affordable property is.

When we put this to the test, we found that Eastwood currently has an average property value of around £142,500 with the average salary being £19,675. This is a respectable ratio of 1 to 7.24. Meanwhile across the motorway in Hucknall, the ratio of property values to salary is 1 to 7.77, which suggests the property in that town is 7% less affordable than in Eastwood.

Both towns compare favourably though to the overall average of Nottinghamshire where the average property value is £157,600 and the average salary is £18,892, giving a ratio of 1 to 8.34.

This means that property generally in Nottinghamshire is a rather significant 13% less affordable than Eastwood, with a ratio of 1 to 8.34.

This could mean that now is a brilliant time to invest in Eastwood’s property market, while the average value of property is low compared to the average salary. If you would like to talk to us about your potential investment, please come into our offices.

How can you find a good property deal in Heanor?

I was talking to one of my landlords the other day, when he explained there were no property bargains for him to buy in Heanor. We don’t sell property and don’t charge for our opinion nor advice, but we can give impartial advice without any conflict of interest to our landlords. Here is what I discovered recently about finding bargains that I had discovered over the last few months.

A 3 bed semi-detached house, with an ensuite to the master bedroom, on Mundy’s estate sold in 2008 for £159,950. This summer, she sold again for £129,000, a drop in value of 19.4%!

Another 3 bed semi-detached house on Kirkstone Avenue sold in 2004 for £130,000, then sold for £116,000 in May this year. This is a near 11% reduction.

Finally, one of those nice modern detached houses, with an ensuite on Brookfield Way was bought for £164,000 and then sold again for £145,000 – some lucky person saving £19,000 or 11.5%.

All this shows that for the discerning property buyer there is always good value to be found.

Whether you are a landlord of ours or not, drop by our offices if you would like any advice.

Monopoly in Heanor... How would you play?

 

A couple of local landlords and I had a discussion about the property market in Heanor, when the subject of risk against returns arose.

All landlords are different in the way they play the property game. Some landlords prefer to accept a modest yield/return on their investment for an increased certainty of finding a quality tenant. Other landlords are interested in high returns, with a greater risk with regards to the quality of the tenant. Before you start playing, it is a good idea to have a game plan.

For a low risk investment, you could buy property in the areas of Heanor which are perceived as being more desirable, such as to the west of the town off the Heanor Road such as the modern properties on Sovereign Way or Sandringham Drive, where you may be able to achieve an annual yield of around 4-6%. Following on from my previous articles, if you don’t mind a slightly higher risk of void periods or a more variable quality of tenant, and you ae prepared to look elsewhere in the town, then you are likely to be rewarded with a higher annual yield of 6-8%. This level of risk can be typically taken with older terraced houses around Heanor. For example we manage many variants on the side streets off the A6007.

If you are after annual yields of over 8%, you could take more of a risk with houses of multiple occupancy or properties in the poorest areas of town which may attract tenants of a low quality.

If you would like any advice on choosing properties, come and see us at our office or email us.