Are Attitudes to Home Ownership changing in Cheltenham?

Speaking to a Bank Manager the other day in Cheltenham, we got talking about the state of the Cheltenham property market and whether we, as a country, are turning more and more to the European style of property ownership, where it is the norm to rent as a opposed to automatically buying once you have a good job.

Even though a recent report by the Halifax stated home ownership remains a goal for 85% of twenty to forty five year olds, there is information emerging that attitudes in the UK towards renting your own home as opposed to owning it have softened, showing more and more, that renting is being seen as a life style choice. In fact it is recognised in learned circles that the cycle of renting is also repeated by the fact that people who grow up primarily in rented accommodation are themselves more likely to rent than buy.

The biggest barrier often mentioned to buying a house is the lack of sufficient wages and the high level of deposits. However in Cheltenham, if a couple, one on the average Cheltenham salary of £30,089 pa and the other on the minimum wage, assuming they had a reasonable credit history they would be showered with lenders offering them a 95% mortgage (a reasonable credit history means they haven’t defaulted on loans, paid all their bills on time nor got any County Court Judgements. Just because you missed just one credit card payment wont mean you have messed up your credit score and your ability to get a mortgage) and they would only need to find £7,300 as a deposit to buy a top of the range one bed apartment in central Cheltenham or a good honest 3 bed ex local authority semi in Whaddon. ..it comes down to the perceived capability to buy nowadays.

Interestingly, when I looked at the Cheltenham figures, the average Cheltenham tenant has a younger profile (especially the sub 24 year olds) than the English and Welsh average, as can be seen from the graph below. What interested me as well was the relatively large number of people renting over the age of 50! I know we have a large number of mature tenants at our agency, but I always thought that was the exception to the rule. Obviously not! (And that is good news for landlords as they make excellent tenants)

So what does all this mean for Cheltenham landlords and future Cheltenham landlords? I honestly believe there is a difference between the hope and perceived capability of the younger generation to buy a home. Although home ownership is seen as advantageous by a majority, many tenants admitted in the Halifax report they are not taking the steps they need to purchase their own home.

As the local authority aren’t building any properties in Cheltenham, people still need a roof over the head, and that is why, as I mentioned a few weeks ago that the demand for rental properties will only continue to steadily rise in the coming decade. If you want to know where the Cheltenham Property market is heading and where you should (and shouldn’t) buy, please send me an email to neil.west@belvoirlettings.com