I was out last weekend showing some
prospective tenants around a property in the riverside area of Maidenhead, 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 Maidenhead 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 and
about! Anyway, I was at a loose end for five or ten minutes before I had to
pick my son up from football training in Taplow…… so we had a quick chat.
He wanted to know my thoughts on the future
of the Maidenhead property market, and I would now like to share with you that
conversation, my Maidenhead 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 Maidenhead 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 Maidenhead
was a different place. There were 23,921 households in Maidenhead and 17,562 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 6.21% to 25,407 and the
number of owner-occupiers has increased to 17,758 (although as a proportion, it
is only 69.8% compared to 73.4% twenty years ago).
However, it’s rented sector that is truly
fascinating … twenty years ago, only 1,737 properties were privately rented in Maidenhead
... and now its 3,652, a rise of 1,915.
The twentysomethings of Maidenhead housing
difficulties haven’t been helped by the local authority selling off council
housing, with the number of council houses dropping from 27,29 to 242 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 Maidenhead
and those who educate themselves and treat it as a business will survive and
prosper.
The best way Maidenhead 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, Maidenhead 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 Maidenhead (in fact anywhere) is a business, so all private
landlords should also seek the advice, opinion and commentary of property
professionals.
... And just as I was getting late for
picking my son up from football he asked…. ‘What about the news on the recent Stamp
Duty changes for Landlords’ My thoughts are with such low supply (i.e. numbers
of property for sale), and high demand it is hard to imagine Maidenhead property
values will see much impact…maybe a slight lull over the next few months – 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 should return to balance.
