South East property asking prices jumped by more than £6,400
to £363,992 in February according to Rightmove, an increase of 1.8% from
January and 8.1% higher than a year ago. After the traditionally quiet months
of January and February, the property market has started to warm up, but
talking to some Leigh on sea Estate Agents, they are reporting their lowest
ever stocks of quality property for sale. However, asking prices have no
relation to what property sells for (i.e. their REAL value), is the issue a
lack of supply?
Putting aside Leigh on sea’s continual housing supply
shortage, (we only built 5,187 properties in the last decade but the population
of Leigh grew by 15,867), this is now, according to some people, being
exaggerated by an increase in homes being owned by buy to let investors, who
tend to be buying a property as part of a long term pension plan and are more
likely to keep it for longer than an owner/ occupier would. I have also seen
unwillingness among homeowners looking to move, to put their own property on
the market as they can find few suitable properties to make it worth their
while going through the whole moving process.
Talking to some Leigh on sea’s landlords only last week, I
said that I believe this is the new norm in the Leigh on sea property market,
and is the consequence of over 35 years of not enough homes being built to meet
the escalating growth in household numbers, resulting in a lack of quality
homes for sale in many popular areas of Leigh.
When one looks at the historic data, in June 2008, there
were 603 properties on the market in Leigh compared to today’s 271. Should we
be worried? Well in January 2010, there
were only 253 properties for sale in Leigh on sea, but seven months later in
August 2010, this had jumped to 583 properties, for it to drop to 273
properties in January 2014. The number of properties on the market is a
cyclical thing in Leigh on sea, it always has been and always will be. As we go
into the Spring of 2015, the number of new properties coming onto the market
will increase ... just as the daffodils will flower.
So are landlords to blame? Well, on one side of the coin,
yes they are. If they buy a property to rent out, that means someone can’t buy
it to live in. However, it doesn’t matter if someone wants to live in a
property if they can’t afford the deposit and upkeep.. And the youngsters of Leigh
still need a roof over their head. So on the other side of the coin, if the
Council aren’t building any properties and people can’t afford the large
deposit for the mortgage, then Leigh landlords have stepped in and bought
property to rent out to them. Leigh landlords have bought 4,541 properties over
the last decade (investing approximately £1.296billion buying those Leigh
rental properties), meaning there were at the last count, 17,278 Leigh
properties being privately rented out to tenants. Leigh tenants are in fact
getting a good deal as well, as average rents in Leigh are 5.9% above where
they were seven years ago. That sounds like a win-win situation for everyone to
me. Stop blaming landlords and start building more properties in Leigh.. That
is the only answer.
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