There I was, out with
the family at Greenhead Park last weekend, when a smart gentleman approached
me. ‘Hello’, he said, ‘You are the person writes that Property Blog aren’t you?
We have met before at that Business Networking event in Huddersfield a few
months ago’. I did then recognise him and, whilst I wont mention his name, he
runs a small but perfectly formed well known independent retailers in the town
... It’s amazing who you see when out walking! Anyway, I was at a loose end for
five or ten minutes as the other half was sorting things with the family, so we
had a chat.
He wanted to know my
thoughts on the future of the Huddersfield property market, and I would now
like to share with you that conversation, my Huddersfield property Blog reading
friends. People are always going to need a roof over
their heads and somewhere to live will never go out of fashion – it’s a necessity
for every single person. The 22 to 30 year olds of the town have a choice to
what type of roof they have ... they rent from the Council, they can rent from
a private landlord or finally they can get a mortgage and buy one. In the 1970’s/80’s
and 90’s, the expected thing was to save like mad for two years for the deposit
(going without luxuries) whilst living at home or renting a cheap two up two
down, then buy your first house. However, more recently fewer Huddersfield
youngsters have been buying, choosing to rent instead – mainly from private
landlords (as Councils have been selling off council housing on the Right to
Buy Schemes). The numbers are truly staggering ... and I want to share them with
you.
Roll the clock back 20 years and Huddersfield
was a different place. There were 63,410 households in Huddersfield and 40,877
of those were owner occupied. Move to the present, and with all the building in
the town, the total number of households has increased by 9.04% to 69,144 and
quite surprising (to me at least), the number of owner-occupiers has increased
to 43,744 (although as a proportion, it is only 63.2% compared to 64.4% twenty
years ago).
However, it’s rented sector that is truly
fascinating … twenty years ago, only 4,860 properties were privately rented in Huddersfield
... and now its 12,973, a rise of 8,113.
The twentysomethings
of Huddersfield housing difficulties haven’t been helped by the local authority
selling off council housing, with the number of council houses dropping from 11,327
to 8,322 over the same twenty-year period. Demand for decent rented property
remains high, as Cameron’s much vaunted house building program is years away
and has decades of under investment to catch up on before it starts to affect
demand. Even with the Buy to Let tax rule changes over the coming few years
(which will see the maximum tax relief available to landlords drop from 45% to
20%), private landlords still have an important role to play in housing the people
of Huddersfield and those who educate themselves and treat it as a business
will survive and prosper.
The best way Huddersfield landlords can protect
their income from property (and mitigate the affects of the tax rises) is to
keep the homes they let out in Grade A condition. I have found, especially over
the last three or four years, Huddersfield tenants have ever growing demands
from their rental property, but many are prepared to pay ‘top dollar‘ for houses
and apartments that meet their high expectations. You must not forget, letting
property in Huddersfield (in fact anywhere) is a business, so all private
landlords should also seek the advice, opinion and commentary of property
professionals.
... And just as the
other half had sorted the family, he asked ‘What of the news of Stamp Duty
changes for Landlords coming in April?’ My thoughts are with such low supply (i.e. numbers of property for sale), and
high demand it is hard to imagine Huddersfield property values will see much
impact – but I predict, ever so slightly, the proportion of owner occupiers
should increase slightly compared to buy to let landlords in the coming decade
as the the housing market should return to balance. For more in-depth thoughts
on the Huddersfield Property Market, which have a library of similar articles
like this, all on the Huddersfield Property Market, please visit my blog http://huddersfieldproperty.blogspot.co.uk/
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