What does 2016 have in store for the Huddersfield Property Market?

Huddersfield house prices up or Huddersfield house prices down? ... and if so, by how much? Those of you who read the Huddersfield Property Blog will know I am not the sort of person who pulls punches nor someone who ever fails to give a forthright and straight talking opinion – so here are my thoughts for the 43,744 Huddersfield homeowners and landlords.

The average Huddersfield property is 2.6% higher today than it was a year ago, which doesn’t sound a lot, but when you consider inflation is currently running at -0.1% (ie consumer/retail prices are dropping) and average salary growth is only around 2.5% pa, this is bad news for first time buyers as property affordability continues to decrease (although I was reading in The Times the other day that wage inflation (ie salary growth) is showing signs of weakening).

Some commentators have said the higher stamp duty taxes announced a few weeks ago in the 

Autumn Statement for buy to let landlords, concerns over first time buyer affordability and the outlook of UK interest rate rises in 2016 will really dampen the property market. I hope you all read my previous article about what the new stamp duty rule changes would REALLY mean for Huddersfield landlords in my blog, but I believe the real issue in the Huddersfield property market is the shortage of property to buy, as people either worry there will be no suitable house to move to, or cannot afford to upgrade. However, on the supply side, Mr Osborne said in his Autumn Statement that he will change the planning laws to ensure the government meets the pledge made at the General 

Election (back in May) of 200,000 new homes a year.  All I can say is .. good luck George hitting those numbers!

Why? Because houses take years to build .. not months .. so George and his fabled house building aside .... where does that leave us in Huddersfield in 2016?

Well, talking of supply ... whilst Mr Osborne builds his properties (and let’s be honest - a week doesn’t go by without him being filmed on a building site with a high viz jacket and hard hat building a house here and there!), let us look at the shortage of properties for sale. Back in October 2011, 1,243 properties were for sale in Huddersfield .. today that figure is 788. On the face of it, this means there is less choice for Huddersfield buyers – but it also means with a restricted supply of properties for sale .. it keeps property prices high for Huddersfield house sellers.

Everything isn’t all doom and gloom though ... again back in October 2011, the average property in Huddersfield took 139 days to find a buyer .. latest figures state this has dropped to 128 days .. a drop of 8% in how long it takes to find a buyer. However, when you delve even deeper, the best performing type of property today in Huddersfield is the 2 bed, which takes 109 days to find a buyer (on average) compared to the 1 bed, which takes 140 days. It just goes to show, even though the average has dropped since 2011, how varied that change has been!

So, back to the question everyone is asking .... What will happen to property values in Huddersfield in 2016?  I am going to suggest they will rise between 2% and 3% ... nothing out of the ordinary, but unless something cataclysmic happens in the world, 2016 will be like 2015! For more thoughts, opinions and views on the Huddersfield property market .. visit the Huddersfield Property Blog http://huddersfieldproperty.blogspot.co.uk/

Huddersfield House Price Monopoly: How do Prices vary?

Well as the nights draw in, if there is nothing on the telly, the significant other and myself like to play the board game Monopoly. The buying and renting of property, it’s like a busman’s holiday for me! 

Interestingly, the game was originally invented at the turn of the 20^th Century (in 1903) and the game was initially called ‘The Landlord’s Game’!  Anyway, after a few years in the wilderness, the current owners of the game renamed it in 1935 and so began Monopoly as we know it today.

So whether you are a homeowner or landlord in Huddersfield, what would a Monopoly board look like today in the town? Property prices over the last 80 years have certainly increased beyond all recognition, so looking at the original board, I have substituted some of the original streets with the most expensive and least expensive locations in Huddersfield today.

Initially, I have focused on the HD1 postcode only, looking at the Brown Squares on the board, the ‘new’ Old Kent Road in Huddersfield today would be Town Crescent, with an average value £53,000 (per property) and Whitechapel Road would be Crosland Road, which would be worth £59,800. 

What about the posh dark blue squares of Park Lane and Mayfair? Again, looking at HD1, Park Lane would be Gledholt Road at £256,000 and Mayfair would be Edgerton Green at £310,900. However, look a little further afield from the HD1 postcode, and such roads as Norwood Park would claim the Mayfair card at £539,200! Also, I can’t forget the train stations (my favourite squares), and over the last 12 months, the average price that property within a quarter mile of the station sold for was £102,300.

So that got me thinking what you would have had to have paid for a property in Huddersfield back in 1935, when the game originally came out?

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•        The average Huddersfield detached house today is worth £283,680 would have set you back 513 Pounds 5 shillings and 3 old pence.

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•        The average Huddersfield semi detached house today is worth £153,570 would have set you back 277 Pounds 17 shillings and 1 old pence.

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•        The average Huddersfield terraced / town house today is worth £112,650 would have set you back 203 Pounds 16 shillings and 4 old pence.

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•        The average Huddersfield apartment today is worth £124,700 would have set you back 225 Pounds 12 shillings and 4 old pence.

If that sounds like another currency, you must be in your 20’s or 30’s, because it was back in February 1971, that Britain went decimal and hundreds of years of everyday currency was turned into history overnight. On 14th of February of that year, there were 12 pennies to the shilling and 20 shillings to the pound. The following day all that was history and the pound was made up of 100 new pence.

Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this bit of fun, but underlying all this is one important fact. Property investing is a long game, which has seen impressive rises over the last 80 years. In my previous articles I have talked about what is happening on a month by month or year by year basis and if you are going to invest in the Huddersfield property market, you should consider the Huddersfield property you buy a medium to long term investment, because Buy to let is pretty much what it sounds like – you buy a property in order to rent it out to tenants.

As I reminded a soon to be first time landlord from Birkby the other week, Buy to let in Huddersfield (as in other parts of the Country) is very different from owning your own home. When you become a Huddersfield landlord, you are in essence running a small business – one with important legal responsibilities.

  On that note, I want to remind landlords of the recent and future changes in legislation when it comes to buy to let. This year, rules have changed about tenant deposits, carbon monoxide detectors and early in the New Year, landlords will have responsibilities to do immigration checks on all their tenants. Failure to adhere to them will mean a minimum of heavy fines in the thousands or in some cases, prison ... it’s a mine field!  That’s why I write the Huddersfield Property Blog, where it has an extensive library of articles like this one, where I talk about what is happening in the Huddersfield property market, what to buy (and sometimes not) in Huddersfield and everything else that is important to know as a Huddersfield landlord. Please visit the Huddersfield Property Blog http://huddersfieldproperty.blogspot.co.uk/