Manchester Property News

I was speaking to one of my landlords the other day and we got talking about his first property and that when he bought it in Burnage in the 1960’s he was in his early 20’s. This got me thinking and I looked into the age of purchase a bit further and after looking at some research by the Post Office from a few years ago, in the 1960’s the average age people bought their first house was 23. By the early 1970s, it had reached 27, rising to 28 in the early 1980’s.

Ask a Burnage of Levenshulme ‘twenty something’ and they will say they do not expect to buy until they are in their mid thirties – seven years later than the 1980’s. Some people even say they will never be able to buy a property and the newspapers have labelled them ‘Generation Rent’ as they are people born in the 1980s who have no hope of getting on the property ladder. One of the major problems facing young people from Burnage and Levenshulme is the large deposit needed to get a mortgage.. or is it?

The average price paid for an apartment in Burnage and Levenshulme over the last 12 months has been £99,193 meaning our first time buyer would need to save £4959 as a deposit (as 95% mortgages have been available to first time buyers since 2010) plus a thousand or so for solicitors and survey costs. A lot of money, but people don’t think anything today of spending a couple of thousand pounds to go on holiday; the latest iPhone upgrade or the latest 4K HD television. That amount could soon be saved if these ‘luxuries’ were curtailed over a couple of years.. but attitudes have changed.

Official figures, from the Office for National Statistics, show the average male in Burnage and Levenshulme with a full-time job earns £498.50 per week whilst the average female salary is £432.80 a week, meaning, even if one of them worked part time, they would still comfortably be able to get a mortgage for an apartment.

I was reading a report/survey commissioned by Paragon Mortgages from the autumn of last year. The thing that struck me was that when tenants were asked about their long term housing plans, some 35% of participating tenants intend to remain within the rental sector and 24% intended to buy a house in the future, with the proportion of respondents citing the “unaffordability” of housing as the reason for renting privately increasing from 69% to 74%.

However, time and time again, in the starter home category of property (ie apartments), nine times out of ten, the mortgage payments to buy a Burnage or Levenshulme property are cheaper than having to rent in Burnage or Levenshulme. It is the tenant’s perception that they believe they can’t buy, so choose not to. Renting is now a choice. Tenants can upgrade to bigger and better properties and move up the property ladder quicker than their parents or grandparents – albeit they don’t own the property. Over the last decade, culturally in the UK, there has been a change in the attitude to renting so, unless that attitude changes, I expect that the private rental sector in Burnage and Levenshulme – and the UK as a whole – is likely to remain a popular choice for the next twenty plus years. With demand for Burnage and Levenshulme rental property unlikely to slow and newly formed households continuing to choose the rental market instead of purchasing a property.

I also forecast that renting will continue to offer good value for money for tenants and recommend landlords pursue professional advice and adopt a realistic approach to rental increases to ensure that they are in line with inflation and any void periods are curtailed. If you are looking to buy a Buy to Let property and want so advice then feel free to come and talk to me!