One of the final chunks of census data has recently been released by the Government, and for those of you who like to look at data, it is a treasure trove of information. Information is so important when making decisions on what (or not) to buy when investing in property. The census data allows anyone to look at the data for housing estates or areas, but even better down to individual roads. Such information allows us to weigh up potential hotspots in the rental market and show potential landlords where there could be an opportunity.
After discussions with a landlord who had been reading the Cheltenham and Gloucester Property Blog he took me up on the offer of popping into our offices on Bath Road in Cheltenham. We got discussing the area of Leckhampton in Cheltenham and whether it made a good buy to let investment area. After carrying out some research this is what I found out; there are 5,275 people living in 2,276 properties. It is the home ownership percentages that really got me interested, as it is this information, tied in with our intimate knowledge of the market, where we can match tenant demand to an under supply of rental properties. In this area of Leckhampton of those 2,276 properties, 47.7% own their property without a mortgage (compared to the 32.1% Cheltenham average) and an additional 37.7% of households own their property with a mortgage (again the Cheltenham average is only slightly higher at 32.4% and that includes all the posh villages!).
237 or 10.4% of households in Leckhampton are privately rented. This is not due to a lack of demand by tenants but of a lack of supply, confirming that it is a very popular area with owner occupiers. The average value of a property in Leckhampton at this moment in time is a rather high £381,800 with average rents at £901 per month. This gives us an average yield of 2.83% which is not at all high when you consider that in the city centre yields of between 4% and 6% can be achieved. It must however be noted that average values in Leckhampton have risen by approximately 85.2% since 2002, which is considerably higher than the Cheltenham average of 51.8% since 2002.
Therefore, if you are considering buying a property for investment in the near future, I am always happy to give you my considered opinion on which property to buy (or not as the case may be) to give you what you want from your investment. If you are a landlord, new or old, we’re certainly more than happy for you to pop in and see us at our offices in either Cheltenham or Gloucester for a chat or email me direct on neil.west@belvoir.co.uk
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