Friday 27 November 2015

The ‘Liquorice Allsorts’ Headingley Property market

Despite the UK economy heading in the right direction with record low mortgage rates and unemployment  figures dropping,  the rate of property prices rising in Headingley have tempered since the start of the year. This slow but sure downward trend in the rate of growth has been in evidence since mid-2014.  Property value increases continue to outpace the growth in salaries; however the gap is closing, helped by a lift in salaries over the last 6 months.  Property values in the Yorkshire region as a whole are 1.1% higher than a year ago.  Compare this to the neighbouring regions of the North East at 1.0% higher and North West at  3.4%, the majority of the country continue to see annual house price gains - the exception being Wales which recorded a slight  decline of -0.6%.

Even with the tempering in house price inflation, it does not necessarily change my outlook that property prices are likely to be firmer over 2016 amid heightening activity in the Headingley property market.  As stated in a previous article, there is a current shortage of properties on the market, restricting supply, which in turn will provide stability and support to Burley and Headingley property prices. Therefore, my overall opinion is that Burley and Headingley property prices will rise by 3% to 4% over 2016.

Property investment is a long term business.  Buying the right sort of property is vital. I have recently been speaking with a number of Headingley landlords about the importance of a balanced portfolio, when buying and renting out property. The balance between buying properties that offer good monthly returns (high yields) but quite often offer poor capital growth (i.e. they don't increase in value that much over the years compared with the average) verses properties that do go up in value quicker but often offer a lower yield.  So, what type of properties have performed best over the last few years in Headingley, especially in terms of their capital growth?

When comparing what the average price of detached, semi detached, terraced and flats were selling for back at the start of the Millennium to the present.  The results are quite remarkably different, almost like a bag of Liquorice Allsorts, as the different types of property have performed poles apart over the last 15 years:

·         Detached Houses in 2000 were selling on average for £114,916 and so far in 2015, they have been selling on average in Headingley for £320,000, a rise of 178%
·         Semi -Detached Houses in 2000 were selling on average for £53,264 and so far in 2015, they have been selling on average in Headingley for £151,812, a rise of 185%
·         Terraced Houses in 2000 were selling on average for £48,390 and so far in 2015, they have been selling on average in Headingley for £144,997, a rise of 200%
·         Flats and Apartments in 2000 were selling on average for £91,475 and so far in 2015, they have been selling on average in Headingley for £112,125 a rise of 23%
Moving forward, what should new and existing buy to let landlords do with this information?  Well, the questions I seem to be asked on an almost daily basis by landlords are:

·         “Should I sell my property in Burley or Headingley?”
·         “Is the time right to buy another buy to let property in Burley or Headingley and if not Headingley/Burley, where?”
·         “Are there any property bargains out there in NW Leeds to be had?” 

Many other Burley and Headingley landlords, who are with both us and other  Headingley letting agents, like to discuss the Burley and Headingley property market and how Headingley  or Burley compares with its closest rivals, and hopefully answer the three questions above. If you’d like to chat about this then either give me a call or call in to my Burley office,  I don’t bite, I don’t do hard sell, I will just give you my honest and straight talking opinion and I look forward to hearing from you. 

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