Eastwood 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 Eastwood 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 Eastwood....and the surrounding areas, including Kimberley, Nuthall, Underwood and Selston.

There are 146 streets in Eastwood and 959 streets in the total NG16 postcode area with just over an eighth of all those houses (3,782 to be precise) having changed hands since 2010. In those 5 years average house prices in the Eastwood area have risen by some 8%, and by nearly 2% over the last 12 months, and currently stand at around £148,000.

Most investors tend to buy semis, terraced houses or flats – so looking at the average values for these we see they stand at around £120,000; £90,000 and £105,000 respectively, still below the stamp duty threshold – so plenty of scope for good value investment in the area.

Compared to the national average - Eastwood has 76% more detached houses, 22% more semi detached houses, 25% less terraced houses and 93% less flats. This is a good indicator that Eastwood and the surrounding NG16 postcode area is a good place to buy property in.

If you would like more useful facts and figures send me an email or pop in to see us at our offices.

 

Very Tidy 2 Bed in Heanor

 

Just on with Whitegates this 2 bed end of terraced property is already a rental property - and looks very clean and tidy to boot. With an asking price of a little under £80,000 and rentals in the region of £475 this makes a good rental yield of over 7%.

See it here -

http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-52305899.html

With two reception rooms and an upstairs bathroom with a nice rear garden that doesn't look too onerous to maintain this could be a fantastic home for a small family or couple.

Go and have a look and see what you think and then feel free to let me know.

Property Bargains around Belper; Bargate, Kilburn and Heage

A local landlord became interested in the Belper’s Buy to Let market, in particular the growth in capital values some of which he had witnessed first hand, after reading our articles about various areas of Belper, so decided to call us and ask our advice.

Having had a look at some recent examples of high growth properties I found that a small two bedroom end-of-terrace property on Belper Road, Bargate, was bought for £80,000 in 2011. The same property sold for £140,000 in December last year, which is a rise of 75%! However, prices in the town during this same time period rose only by around 11%, so it should have sold for £90,000 if it kept up with the local average house price changes, so it looks like it needed work when originally bought in 2011 – and that work has paid off handsomely.

A two bedroom detached bungalow on Ryknield Road in Kilburn sold for £190,000 in 2013, and was sold again this year for £239,000. This is a rather impressive rise of 26%, especially considering, average prices in this time have risen by a much less remarkable 9% in the area.

One  that also caught the eye was another two bedroom link-detached bungalow on Old Road in Heage sold for £125,000 in 2013, and was sold again this year for £168,000. This is an even more impressive rise of 35%!

Having a look at this one in a little more detail we can see that a program of refurbishment has taken place – just look at these before and after photographs:

Before:

 

 

 

 

And after the refurbishment:

 

 

 

Interestingly one thing the then owners did was to turn the property from a 3 bed to a 2 bed – and make way for a kitchen diner – rather than just a small kitchen – which is a much more modern, and appealing, way of living. Definitely a case of “less is more” here!

With rents for these types of bungalows in these areas achieving between £500 and £650 per month, these properties would now yield around 4-5%. I think in terms of a rental investment, there are better properties than bungalows, such as smaller two or three bedroom semis, but for owner occupation there are some bargains.

Our interest and passion lies firmly within the residential property market, so please feel free to talk to us at any point about our diverse area.

Reduced in Eastwood - Time for an Offer?

This 2 bed starter-home caught my eye as it has been reduced last week - and even at the asking price of £80,000 would produce a rental yield of over 7% - but there may be a little more room for negotiation with the vendor?

The internals seem in good condition, and the décor is fairly neutral, kitchen functional and the the shower-room is fine for a house of this type.

Take a look here http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-44749811.html and give Charles Newton & Co a call to arrange a viewing and let me know what you think.

The Ilkeston property market outperforms Ripley by 32%

As you know I like to keep an eye on the changing local property markets so when a landlord with a small property portfolio came into our office last week, it gave me the chance to catch up on some analysis. He lives between Ripley and Ilkeston, in Heanor, and has properties in both towns. He wanted to ask our opinion on where he should his next Buy to Let property.

Looking at Ripley, the average property price can be a healthy £143,500 and the average rent is £445 per month. In Ilkeston, an average property is a lower £136,000 and the average rent is a more impressive £550 per month. The annual yield in Ripley could be only 3.7% per year, compared to Ilkeston where he could achieve an annual yield of nearer 4.9%! On the face of it much this is a higher yield – 32% higher in fact!

It made me consider two other towns close by, either side of Ilkeston; Long Eaton and Heanor. In Long Eaton, I was surprised to find property values are higher than in Ilkeston, but similar to Ripley, with an average property price of £141,000. They have an average rent of £495 per month, which could achieve a yield of 4.2%. The average price of a property in Heanor is £131,500, which is the lowest of the four towns, with rents of around £470 per month. This would mean an average rental yield of 4.3% per year.

It goes to show our towns of Ilkeston and Heanor can be a good area for an investment property, where absolute property prices are relatively low, and yields strong, but it is a decision that shouldn't be taken lightly as it is important to remember that these  are only averages, so the yields for some small to medium sized properties in popular areas of Ilkeston can achieve yields of up to 9% or more per year. If you want to know our thoughts on property in Ilkeston or any of these towns, then come into our office.

 

6% Yield on the Shipley View Estate in Ilkeston? Yes Please!

Well in the current market, what with property values on the march it is nice to see some properties are on at a reasonable level -  such as this 3 bed semi on Milford Drive, Shipley View, ILKESTON - a modern property asking for offers around £127,500 - and renting out in the early £600s this should see a yield of around 6%, with good demand and strong capital growth. 

Recently put on the market with Whitegates - see it here: http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-34417812.html and let me know what you think! These properties certainly rent out very, very well indeed.

Just Reduced In Ilkeston

On the recent theme of newish apartments - this two bed ground floor one in Ilkeston has caught my eye as it has just been reduced to "offers" over £75,000...and they generally sell north of £80,000 at the moment.

 

 

If you can haggle a bit - you could be onto a bargain...it may need a little refresh - maybe a lick of paint and perhaps some carpets - but certainly one to have a look at. Rents are c£425-£450 per month giving a healthy 7% or so yield.

Make sure you check the lease details and all the fine print - but if all that is good then these are readily rentable.

http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-48844117.html

Let me know how you get on!

Oh and just before I go I had a call from a local investor who sent me a couple of Zoopla links to properties she is considering buying – one from Burchell Edwards and one from Whitegates. I figured that the first was little bit “toppy” ie was too expensive and to take care, but the second would be a bargain at a few £k off….so told her to put an offer in and see how she went.

If you have any properties you are considering buying – then give me a call or drop me an email at jeremy.bullock@sprucetree.co.uk and I will give you my view.

Two Speed Eastwood Property Market?

 

Even with the General Election, property values in Eastwood are still 0.76%  higher than they were 3 months ago, the diversion and ambiguity of an election typically makes house sellers who need to sell, price their property more realistically (although this only lasts a couple of months). Looking specifically at it from an Eastwood landlord’s point of view, the Eastwood properties favoured by investors are in short supply in many parts of the town because of a number of factors. One of the factors has been that we have seen the number of first time buyers coming to buy their first home increase over the last 12 months in Eastwood.  Another factor has been the fact that the banks have been pushing ‘let to buy’ (where home owners change their mortgage so they can rent out there property and buy elsewhere) to homeowners. Next, because of the banks, who are chasing low risk landlords with high deposits with very low mortgage rates - and the low risk landlords with high deposits tend to be attracted to the safer modern two and three bed town houses and semis in Eastwood.

As I mentioned a few weeks back, the pension rules are changing which means buy to let landlords can use some, or all, of their pension pot to buy a property.  It shouldn’t be forgotten there are tax implications taking more than a quarter of your pension pot out (see the article from a couple of weeks ago), so whilst many pension pots may not be able fund a suitably big enough tax free lump sum to buy the property outright, for most it will provide enough for the 25% deposit (required by most BTL mortgage providers). It shouldn’t be forgotten landlords that the interest paid on the mortgage is tax deductible against the rent, thus lowering your income tax paid.

In the last 12 months, I have noticed a particular uplift in interest from ‘50 something’ Eastwood people wanting to become landlords for the first time. In Eastwood, the highest returns for the lowest investment are at the lower end of the market e.g. the classic Victorian terraced house. Unfortunately Victorian terraced houses, with two bedrooms are coming to the market in smaller numbers than the larger four beds in top end sectors of the Eastwood property market. When looking at the actual numbers, in the latter part of the Summer of 2014 in Eastwood, in one month alone 31 two bed properties were on the market in Eastwood. However, in January this year, a notoriously excellent bumper month for properties coming on to the market, there were only 14 two bed properties on the market in Eastwood to choose from. Today, that figure stands at only 17 ..whilst the number of four and five beds has increased significantly ...  interesting don’t you think?

At that lower end of the property market in Eastwood, (ie where first time buyers and landlord investors compete with each other to buy those smaller properties), I believe throughout 2015, there will be a slow and steady tipping of the scales between supply and demand. In fact, from what I am seeing and hearing, early anecdotal evidence has suggested over the last few months (although we will need to look at figures later in the Spring once we have the data from The Land Registry), we are beginning to see a polarised Eastwood property market, where we have high demand but low supply at the bottom end of the property market, yet high supply but lower demand at the top of market .. and that can only mean one thing ... prices will go up quicker on the smaller properties than the larger ones in Eastwood, thus narrowing the gap for people looking to move up market!

 

 

Bargain 2 Bed in Belper!

After a spot of deep-yield trawling in Belper today I noticed that even now you can still land a cracker of a 2 bed property for less than £73,000 and giving a yield of some 7% as these are renting out at around £450 per month!

 

 

 

This modern 2 bed first-floor apartment is on with MyPad of Derby and can be seen here:

http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-34324401.html

And with lowish ground rent/service charges it certainly is one to look at – the next cheapest MODERN 2 bed properties on the market are currently asking £117000 or more – this is nearly £40,000 cheaper…. So assuming no lease or other issues it won’t be around for long! Go and have a look and let me know if you need any help!

Good Yield - Ready to Rent in Kirk Hallam

Having a look through the new listings today and It looks like very little work is needed on this 3 bed semi in Kirk Hallam on with Burchell Edwards.

On at a smidge under £90,000 and rentals in the region of £575 per month this looks good value at a nearly 8% yield in what is a rising market.

Another plus for this property is the separate dining room as well as lounge. The more adventurous amongst you may want to knock the kitchen through to create a more open living kitchen – but really all I would suggest is maybe to look at the hall and stairs floorings and clean the rear garden areas, and it looks ready to go as a rental.

Go and have a look and then let me know what you think:

http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-47917777.html