In lettings we think about rental income and yield, but in business it always worth having an exit plan. Knowing how saleable a property is, can be half the battle when deciding what to buy for your next property investment. Why? Well because one day, you may want to sell that property.
A couple of week’s back, a couple we know from Southall contacted us for our thoughts on buy to let properties in and around Uxbridge. Their concern was if we have another property downturn (and we will because that is the nature of economic cycles and markets), if they did need to sell, what type of property would be easier to sell. Now everything sells, even during price drops, but I did some research and followed up on their request…
A good guide to judge the saleability of property is the number of properties for sale, compared to the numbers that are sold (subject to contract).
What do the numbers say?
I carried out this comparison late last week, so the numbers will be slightly different to today, but of the 100,214 households in the London Borough of Hillingdon there are 2,559 properties on the market listed for sale. Of those 2,559 properties, 1,002 properties are fully available on the open market waiting for a buyer and 1,557 have buyers and are sold subject to contract or under offer so no viewings available.
That means 60.8% of property on the market has a buyer in Hillingdon Borough.
However, when I investigated further, roughly 61.4% of houses on the market in the borough have a buyer. 60% of Bungalows had a buyer and highest of all was flats and apartments when 63.1% of them had a buyer.
So flats seem to be in the highest demand at the moment in the area.
I am always giving advice to my existing and new landlords in and around the Uxbridge area (and a fair few tenants) on what to buy or where to rent. Having this detail of information at my fingertips, allows me to spot trends in the local market, which then enables to me to give the very best advice to my clients. I don’t charge for that advice as I have plenty of opportunity to earn money by finding the best tenant
