2,681 Spelthorne Homes bought by private landlords in the last 20 years - Is this the end for first time buyers in Staines?

Out walking last weekend in Lammas Park I bumped into a landlord I had previously met at a business networking event in Staines a few weeks ago.  We got chatting about the property market and what the future holds in Staines.

 

I would now like to share that conversation with you, my Staines property blog reading friends.

 People are always going to need a roof over their heads – it’s a necessity for every single person. The 22 to 30 year olds of the town have a choice as 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 Staines youngsters have been unable to buy, 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 Staines was a very different place. There were 37,655 households in Spelthorne and 29,065 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 4.93% to 39,512 and quite surprisingly (to me at least), the number of owner-occupiers has decreased to 28,671 (although as a proportion, it is only 72.5% compared to 77.1% twenty years ago).

 

 

 

 However, it’s the rented sector that is truly fascinating … twenty years ago, only 2,323 properties were privately rented in Spelthorne ... and now it’s 5,004 -  a rise of 2,681, more than double.

 

 

 The twentysomethings of Staines housing difficulties haven’t been helped by the local authority selling off council housing, with the number of council houses dropping from 3,653 to 636 over the same twenty-year period. Demand for decent rented property remains high, as Cameron’s much vaunted house building programme 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 Staines and those who educate themselves and treat it as a business will survive and prosper.

 

 

 

The best way Staines landlords can protect their income from property (and mitigate the effects 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, Staines 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 Staines (in fact anywhere) is a business, so all private landlords should also seek the advice, opinion and commentary of property professionals.

Just as I was about to leave with the rest of the family, he asked ‘What of the news of Stamp Duty changes for Landlords coming in April?’ My thoughts are that, with such low supply (i.e. numbers of property for sale), and high demand it is hard to imagine Staines 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 housing market rebalances itself slightly.