An Englishman’s home is his castle but when it comes to the
UK the ‘Brit’s are still a nation of
homeowners (although wasn’t it Napoleon who thought we were all shop
keepers!). It is interesting to note
that up until the mid to late 1960’s, more people rented their home (albeit
mostly from the local council) than owned their own. In fact, I was surprised
to read that in 1921, over 75% of homes in England and Wales were privately rented
with the remaining 25% being owner occupied.
It was only after the Second World War, when the Beatles
were rocking, that people started to buy instead of rent .. but instead of
owning our property outright, we borrowed money from banks and building society’s
to buy them and the roots of the growth of the private rental sector can be
drawn back to the late 1970’s early 1980’s, when the council houses began to be
sold off under the right to buy scheme.
In 2001, 71.78% of households were owner occupied in
Colchester, but ten years later, that percentage dropped massively to 66.31%.
But here is the interesting part, when you look at the actual numbers of
households, 45,734 households in Colchester were owner occupied in 2001. Ten
years later, in 2011,that number (who owned their own home) had actually
increased to 47,507 households.
So why big drop in percentages but not in actual properties?
An additional 7,928 properties were built in Colchester between 2001 and 2011,
but a lot of them were bought as buy to let investments, thus more than
doubling the number of private rental properties in Colchester. In fact, the
number of properties in Colchester, which were privately rented, jumped from
5,136 in 2001 to 11,689 in 2011! With the Colchester Council housing waiting
lists being in the 5 to 10 year range for a decent property in a decent
location. Therefore, with no more council houses being built, and an increasing
number of people looking for a roof over their head, private renting is the
only option.
With every report stating the rental market will continue to
grow throughout the rest of this decade and beyond, linked with high demand and
limited supply in the Colchester, then if you are considering buying a property
for buy to let investment in Colchester, as I don’t sell property (I’m just a
letting agent), I am always happy to give you my considered opinion on which
property to buy (or not as the case may be).. If you are a landlord, new or
old, I am certainly more than happy for you to pick up the phone or visit the
Colchester Property Blog where you will find the best buy to let deals on a day
by day basis from all the agents in Colchester
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