One of my landlords rang me last week from Broughty Ferry, after he had spoken to a friend of his. Over Christmas, they were discussing the Dundee property market and neither of them could make their mind up if it was time to either sell or buy property. If you read the newspapers and the landlord forums on the internet, there is a good slice of doom and gloom, especially with changes in the taxation towards landlords, new legislation on checking tenants and the general uncertainty in the world economic situation.
I would admit, there are certain landlords in Dundee who have over exposed themselves in the last few years with high percentage loan to value mortgages. Those mortgages, with their current (yet artificially low) interest rates, will start to suffer, as their modest monthly positive cash flow/profit, i.e. income (rent) less costs (mortgage, fees, tax), will become negative when the tax and mortgage rates rise throughout 2017 and beyond.
It appears to me these landlords seem to have treated the Dundee Buy to Let market as a sure bet and have not approached this as a business and, as a result, they will suffer as they thought “Buy a house – rent it out so it covers the mortgage and make a few quid on top”. These are the people who will be thinking twice. I see opportunity everywhere and won’t be stopping, I’m here to stay. It’s going to be an exciting new year.
Gone are the days when you could buy any old house in Dundee and it would make money. Yes, in the past, anything in Dundee that had four walls and a roof would make you money because since WW2, property prices doubled every seven years … it was like printing money – but not anymore.
True, since May 2003, the average price paid for a Dundee property has risen from £64,225 to today’s current average of £134,253 in the city, an impressive rise of 109%. However, look back to 2008, and in that year, the average property was selling for £125,882, meaning our Dundee landlord would have seen a modest increase of 7%, but it gets worse when you take into account inflation.
Since 2008, then inflation, i.e. the cost of living, has increased by 23.9%. That means to retain its value, Dundee terraced property bought for £125,882 in 2008 needs to be worth £155,967 today. Therefore, our landlord has seen the ‘real’ value of his property decrease by 16.9% (i.e. 7% less 23.9% inflation).
The reality is, since around the early 2000’s we haven’t seen anything like the capital growth in property we have seen in the past and it’s not predicted to grow at the rates it has previously done either. So it is high time anyone considering investing in property stopped believing the hype and did some serious research using independent investment expertise. You can still make money by buying the right Dundee property at the right price and finding the right tenant. Think about it, properties in real terms are 16.9% lower than eight years ago, so investing in Dundee property is not only about capital growth, but also about the yield (the return from the rent). It’s also about having a balanced property portfolio that will match what you want from your investment – and what is a ‘balanced property portfolio’? Well we discuss such matters on the Dundee Property Blog … if you haven’t been, then it might be worth a few minutes of your time? www.dundeepropertyblog.co.uk
