I was looking up the price of an old property of mine the other day (just being nosey really) and thought I would see how it compared to another location I like.
Now my flat was on Clepington Road and another location I often recommend to potential landlords is Scott St, so I had a look at the stats to see how they compare.
Now on the surface they don’t have a lot in common apart from having a lot of tenement flats. One is in the West End and quite residential, the other is in the North of the city and is a main transit route with everything from shops to small retail parks.
However, they both have generally well maintained blocks and they rent well so I wondered how they stacked up in general.
The average price for a flat on Scot St (according to Zoopla) at the moment is around £120,000 (a little high I think), but you have to remember that this is an average so will include everything from bedsits to five bed flats and it certainly doesn’t mean you cant get a deal. In reality a one or two bed flat here will be between £70,000 and £100,000 depending on condition and layout as you would expect. Its traditionally an easy area to rent and I would expect to achieve say for a one bed around £340 – £420 and for a two bed between £440 and £500. Even taking the lower figures this gives a rental yield of about 5.3% for the one bed and 4.8% for the two beds, though as I say I’m being conservative with these figures.
Now lets do the same figures for Clepington Road, this is a bit more variable purely because it’s such a long street and prices vary along that length. However the average price for a flat on Clepington at the moment is around £93,000 (again the same provisos apply as for Scott St).
In reality a one or two bed flat here will be between £58,500 and £76,000 depending on condition and layout as you would expect. You might remark on the significant difference in asking price, well don’t forget that Scott St is in the West End and that always generates a premium.
Clepington is another easy area to rent and I would expect to achieve say for a one bed around £330 – £400 and for a two bed between £420 and £485. Even taking the lower figures this gives a rental yield of about 6.2% for the one bed and 7.0% for the two beds, though again I’m being conservative with these figures.
In purely rental terms for the two bed that’s nearly 46% higher on Clepington Road!
However, we must remember that yield is not the sole consideration when investing in Buy to Let properties. The average value of flats in Scott Street has increased by 6.29% over the last five years and in Clepington Road by 6.51%
Put all of this together and you can see that whilst I continue to recommend both areas, one is a clear winner in purely financial terms.
Local knowledge like this is key to any buy to let strategy!
