Merry Christmas
December 24th, 2009
Happy Homes would like to wish all it’s investors a very Happy Christmas and a Prosperous New Year.
Happy investing!
House Building on the Decrease
December 12th, 2009
House building in the UK is on the decrease with the number of new properties being built tumbling 35% since September 2008, and by over 50% since 2005/6 to just 83,000 new builds. Compare this to the 178,000 properties that were started when the government made their commitment to build badly needed new housing. Some of the worst hit projects have included those for Council Houses.
Shelter Director of policy said, “These figures show we are simply not building enough homes to meet the huge growing need”
Housing figures issued by Shelter show the last time house building dropped below 122,000 was in 1947. There are currently more than 1.7 million households on council waiting lists with demand far outstripping supply.
The demand for decent, affordable rented property is increasing at an alarming rate, this means Happy Homes investors are seeing their properties snapped up as soon as they are available with quality referenced tenants, and current tenants wanting to renew their lease rather risk loosing good quality housing.
Happy investing!
Great News for Investors
December 9th, 2009
With interest rates at an historically low rate, investors with banks and building societies are seeing the value of their income decrease.
Landlords are telling a totally different story. In the 3 months to the end of June the average yield across landlord’s portfolios rose from 6.2% to 6.4% says a report in the online magazine Introducer Today, www.introducertoday.co.uk. The second half of 2009 is telling exactly the same story.
With first time buyers finding it more and more difficult to raise a 25% deposit and fulfil the stringent criteria being laid down by lenders to secure a mortgage, many landlords have seen a rise in tenant population.
These figures have led to many landlords increasing the number of properties in their portfolio. RICS have released figures that show at least 1 in 3 property investors now have in excess of 4 properties on their books and are looking to increase this number during 2010.
Happy Homes Investors can always rely on quality tenants being professionally managed during the term of their investment.
Happy investing!
Good News For Homeowners
December 4th, 2009
There is finally some good news for homeowners. The Halifax has reported an increase in property prices for the 4th consecutive month with October alone showing an increase of 1.2%. The Nationwide are sending out an even more positive message reporting growth for six consecutive months.
The average house price in the UK is now £162,764, 2.9% higher than prices at the end of 2008. Even with these increases house prices are still not back to the heady heights of 2007, which makes investing now a golden prospect.
A recent report from RICS stated that a fall in the numbers of rental property (the first fall in 2 years) combined with and increase in tenant demand means there will be an inevitable rise in rents over the next 3 months rather than the expected decline. RICS also reported that demand for house rental jumped from 6% to 22% in October whereas demand for flat rental remained the same.
All this is fantastic news for both investors and potential investors with Happy Homes. Current investors are not only seeing the benefit of a regular income but now an increase in value of the bricks and mortar they own, potential investors are still able to purchase much needed and sought after rental property at pre 2007 prices. Now that’s what I call a win win situation.
Happy investing!