Knowing how saleable a property is, is half the battle when
deciding what (or not) to buy for your next property investment. Why?
Well because one day, you may need to sell that property. If you go into the
purchase with open eyes, you know most of the risks and can barter the price
accordingly if you have to. Bearing this in mind, last week, a couple from
Littleover popped into our offices to ask about investing in property. Their
concern was if we have another property slump (and we will because that is what
has happened to the British property market ever since the 1950’s) what type of
property would be easier to sell if they needed to in the future. Now
everything sells, even during a slump, but I did some research and followed up
their query – I was actually quite surprised with the results.
A good guide to judge the saleability of property is the
number of properties for sale, compared to the numbers that are sold, subject
to contract. Now I carried out this comparison last week for Eastwood,
Ilkeston, Heanor plus Belper and it produced some very interesting results
Detached houses first, and whilst not many people buy them
for buy to let, it’s always interesting to see how they compare against others.
Belper comes out on top, with 51 of the 153 detached houses having buyers
(33.3%), Ilkeston and Eastwwod vitually equal second place with 31.5% and 31.1%
of the respective town’s detached properties having a buyer and sold stc.
Heanor brings up the rear, with only 26 of its 95 detached houses having buyers
(27.3%).
Semis are a completely different story with Heanor and
Belper miles ahead of the other two, both towns respective semi detached houses
having buyers and sales agreed for 50.8% and 50.5% of them. Ilkeston has a
decent bronze medal at 46.3% but only just under a quarter of Eastwood semis
(24.6%) having a buyer.
Finally, terraced houses in Ilkeston are top dogs, with 48
of the 105 terraces having buyers (45.7%), whilst Belper has 41.7% of terraces
sold STC, Heanor 37.7% and a very disappointing 19.5% in Eastwood (maybe some
bargains to be had there?).
I am always giving advice to my existing and new landlords
in Erewash and Amber Valley on what to buy (or not as the case may be).
Having this detail of information at my finger tips, allows me to spot trends
in the local market, which then enables to me to give the very best advice to
my clients. I don't charge for that advice as I have plenty of opportunity to
earn money by finding the best tenants for my landlords in the years to come on
the investments I have advised on.