Here is the latest edition of the Property Options’ monthly update on the Bristol Buy To Let (BTL) market.
This update is by economist Chris Worthington, who was one of the speakers at our recent February PIM.
A recent article in the New Statesman highlighted the continuing crisis in the housing market in the UK. It included some comparative statistics for house prices, median rents and median wages in Bristol, London, Manchester and Nottingham.
The proportion of median income paid in rent is the highest in London at 55%. The corresponding figures for Bristol, Manchester and Nottingham are 48%, 41% and 34%.
For “generation rent” the statistics on median rent and house prices are also deeply discouraging. House prices in London are around 15 times the London median wage. The corresponding figure for Bristol, Manchester and Nottingham are 10, 8 and 7 times the median wage.
In Chris’ view this is not a sustainable position : “I look to the new housing minister to bring forward policies and funding to substantially improve the supply of new housing”.
These statistics illustrate that Bristol has relatively high rents in the private rented sector and recent research published by student.com, the online student accommodation market place, shows that rents for custom built student accommodation in Bristol are also comparatively high. Bristol is the sixth most expensive city for student lets at an average of £177 per week. The top five were London, Oxford, Cambridge, Exeter and Reading.
There are positive messages to take from these findings. The relatively high rents in the private rented sector in Bristol reflect the strength of the local economy and the high rents for student accommodation are a reflection of the high demand for student places and postgraduate research jobs in Bristol’s world class universities.
Strong local demand has generated a high level of development activity in both the student market and the private rented sector. Several new city centre developments are completed or are nearing completion and new housing developments are getting underway outside of the city centre.
One of the most is recent of these is at Brunel House, the former home of City of Bristol College on College Road next to the Gloucestershire County Cricket Ground. This grade two listed building is being converted to sixty 1, 2 and 3 bed apartments, duplexes and houses.
For buy to let investors in Bristol there is more good news in the latest UK Cities House Price Index published by property market analysts Hometrack. The year on year growth in house prices is currently 5% placing Bristol 6th in the league table of 20 major cities in the UK.
Conclusion
We will all be discussing the latest position on the property market in Bristol and across the UK at our next PIM on Thursday 27 July 2017 at Holiday Inn, Bristol City Centre, 6-9 pm.
We hope you will join us then.
For more info and to reserve your place Click Below
Property Options Bristol
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