Crawley Housing Crisis? Only 1.4% of Crawley Homes Are For Sale

The Crawley Property Market continues to disregard the end of the world prophecies of a post Brexit fallout with a return to business as usual after the summer break.

The challenge every Crawley property buyer has faced over the last few years is a lack of choice – there simply hasn't been much to choose from when buying (be it for investment or owner occupation). Levels are still well down on what would be considered healthy levels from earlier in this decade, as there is still a substantial demand/supply imbalance. Until we start to see consistent and steady increases in properties coming on to the market in Crawley, the market is likely to see upward pressure on property values continue.

For example, in last few months RH11 has seen an average of 115 new properties coming on to the market, not bad when you consider within the last year the average has been as low as the mid 70’s. With the average Crawley property value hitting a record high, reaching almost £321,300 according to my research, this shortage of properties on the market over the last two years has contributed to this ‘fuller' average property figure, but there is a glimmer of hope that the Crawley's supply crisis may be starting to ease.

As I write this article, 1.41% of Crawley properties are up for sale. In terms of actual chimney pots, that equates to 446 properties on the market in Crawley (within 3 miles of the centre of Crawley) – which, when compared to only a year ago when that figure stood at 353, is a serious increase in the number of properties available to buy. Split down into the type of property, it makes even more fascinating reading...

 

·         Detached Properties in Crawley  - 103 on the market a year ago compared to 130 on the market now – an increase of 26%

·         Semi Detached Properties in Crawley - 94 on the market a year ago compared to 120 on the market now - an increase of 28%

·         Terraced Properties in Crawley - 61 on the market a year ago compared to 78 on the market now - an increase of 28%

·         Flats / Apartments Properties in Crawley  - 80 on the market a year ago compared to 99 on the market now - an increase of 24%

With realistically priced properties flying off the shelves and this increase in new properties, this is evidence of strength in the Crawley housing market that many didn't expect.  Many believed that the Crawley property market wasn't going to be strong enough post Brexit - as what was a sellers' market before the Brexit vote and Buyers' market in the early months after it, may now be somewhere in between and the market might just be coming back into balance.

However, all this will mean property values won't continue to grow at the same extent they have been over the last 12 to 18 months, and in some months (especially on the run up to Christmas and early in the New Year), values might dip slightly. This won't be down to Brexit but a re-balancing of the Crawley Property Market – which is good news for everyone.

Private Renting set to grow by 2,700 Crawley households by 2025

I was having a most interesting chat the other day with a Crawley landlord when we were looking at a property. As I am sure you are aware, I am always happy to cast my eye over any potential buy to let purchase in Crawley, be that you emailing me a Rightmove link, a brochure in the post or even treading the carpet and seeing it together. I don't charge for that, and you don't even need to be a client of mine. We got talking about the Crawley Property Market and this landlord brought up the subject of a report he had read from the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) and PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) that stated almost 1.8m new rental homes are needed by 2025 to keep up with current demand from tenants. He wanted to know what this meant for Crawley.

Well my blog reading friends, some commentators said last Winter that buy to let was about to die, what with the new stamp duty changes and how mortgage tax relief will be calculated. Others even said 500,000 rental properties would flood the market nationally in the 12 months after the new Stamp Duty rules came into force on the 1st April 2016 as landlords left the rental market. Well, all I can say is, I wish all the landlords of those half a million properties would hurry up and put them on the market – because I have plenty of other potential landlords wanting to buy them!

Back to the matter in hand.. if the RICS and PwC are indeed correct, what does this mean for Crawley? The fact is, as a country, we are facing a precarious rental shortage and need to get Crawley building in a way that benefits a cross-section of Crawley society, not just the fortunate few. I call on the Prime Minister to drop the higher stamp duty tax on buy to let purchases to ease the pressure on the rental market.

Of the 42,900 households in Crawley, currently 16,500 tenants live in 6,300 private rented properties. If we apportion those 1.8m households equally around the Country, that means in nine years’ time, the number of rental properties in Crawley needs to rise by 2,700 (i.e. 42.8%) .. taking the total number of rented properties in the town to 9,000.

That means Crawley landlords need to buy around 300 properties a year between now and 2025 to meet that demand – because according to my calculations, an additional 7,100 people will want to live in all those 'additional' Crawley rental properties – so why is the government penalising landlords?

Thankfully the new housing minister Gavin Barwell detached Teresa May's new administration from the Cameron/Osborne laser-like focus of just home ownership to solve our housing issues, saying "we need to build more homes for every single type of person needing a home and not focus on one single tenure". The private rented sector became a stooge under David Cameron's watch and still, with increasingly unaffordable Crawley house prices, the majority of new Crawley households will be relying on the rental sector in the future to house them. I can only say Westminster must put in place the measures that will allow the rental sector to flourish. Any restrictions on the supply of rental property will push up rents (bad news for tenants), thus side-lining those members of Crawley society who are already struggling. Let's hope this new Government continues to see the contribution landlords give to the country as a whole.

Crawley Property Investment: 3 Bedroom Home in Tilgate

Yield or capital appreciation – which is better?  Why not go for both.  I have seen this great 3 Bedroom House on the market with local agent Taylor Robinson in the Tilgate area of Crawley.  One of the biggest headaches for Tilgate residents is parking and that problem has already been solved with the addition of the front driveway on this house. You can view the listing by clicking the link below.

http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-56591059.html

Famed for its park, nature centre and lake, the Tilgate area of Crawley is favoured by young families because of the access to schools and the extensive leisure facilities.  Current rental prices range from £1250 to £1350 for 3 bedroom houses in the neighbourhood thereby easily achieving the fabled 5% yield.  It looks like the property could do with some updating which may explain the recent sales price reduction but for the canny investor this would be the opportunity to add value.  Similar properties that have been updated have been marketed at prices in excess of £320,000.  Landlords would need to take into consideration the stamp duty on the asking price of this property would be £13,200 but these properties tend to generate long term tenancies. Five to seven year tenancies are not uncommon allowing plenty of time to recoup the additional stamp duty especially if you consider that average house prices have increased by 160% since the millenium.

3 Bedroom House For Sale