What to look for when buying an investment property in Exeter

I was talking to a landlord recently who asked for my opinion on what to look for when purchasing a Buy-to-Let property. 

One piece of advice I was able to offer was that a good property should sell easily when you need to release funds. So, if you are a landlord considering buying a property to let out, you want to buy a property that is saleable.

There are a number of ways you can work out how saleable a property is, for example, how long properties on a road or area have taken to sell in the past and the amenities nearby.  There can also be a vast difference in the number of properties sold in an area in relation to the property stock.

Taking the number of properties sold in a road in relation to property stock first of all, looking back from January 1995, we can see that one of the highest turnover areas in Exeter is Clyst Heath, with the number of transactions here being around 138% higher than the number of residential properties in the area.  With an average gross yield of around 4.1% the area makes a fairly reasonable return on the investment and properties here usually let very quickly.  I find we get lots of interest for properties to let around Clyst Heath, the access to the M5 is excellent and the school is very sought after.

At the opposite end of the scale New North Road, which is predominantly made up of the apartments in Isca Place and larger properties opposite, has had 76% fewer transactions compared to stock.  This could possibly be because the apartments have been mainly bought by investor landlords who have kept hold of them due to their good gross yield of around 5.1%.  Being in the city centre the apartments in Marcus House are very popular for post graduate students and we rarely find them staying up to let for long.  Constantine House has larger apartments which attract sharers and families so no matter what your budget is, there will be demand for the property when it comes up for let.

Both of these areas have good amenities nearby, whether it is supermarkets, large employers, schools or public transport, so they will always let very well and have high demand.  Where there have been few property transactions there are likely to be many buyers waiting in the wings to catch any new properties coming to the market, similarly where there have been more transactions, it is likely this demand will have remained the same, so whether there have been many transactions or few, this should not drastically alter the saleability.

The length of time properties have taken to sell can also vary considerably, however this is largely affected by the price of the property and the current market conditions.  Come and talk to us if you are considering buying, selling or letting a property and we can provide more detailed information specifically for you. Please view our website www.martincoexeter.co.uk for our current sale properties.