Our Patch february 2015
Lettings Manager
Ashley Clements
discusses the prospects
for the rental sector in
the year ahead, with
potential landlords
invited to get in touch
lettings
A
nd how will the lettings
sector fare in 2015? A
consistently busy and
fast-moving market, in
the second half of
2014 in particular, points
to a very positive outlook for lettings
this year.
The hefty growth in sales values
earlier in 2014 led to a cooling in local
rental values. But the fact that the sales
market has stabilised means we can
expect a return to the usual form for
steadily growing lettings values.
We expect to see a growing
popularity in ‘let to let’, with local
home owners retaining their property
and letting it out when planning
a move to a larger family home
while renting another property for
themselves. This provides additional
stock levels for smaller homes and flats,
but increases competition for houses,
especially those close to good local
schools.
16/17
A continued shortage of homes to
let means that well-priced, and wellpresented properties are going under
offer extremely quickly.
Any agent wishes to work with as
many of the best homes as possible, and
the shortage of property can at times
seem exaggerated simply due to the
quick turnaround time and properties
being snapped up by tenants.
Yields are relatively low on buy-to-
A continued shortage of
homes means that wellpriced, and well-presented
properties are going under
offer extremely quickly
let properties, however with minimal
void periods and long-term capital
growth a large proportion of our new
instructions are properties bought for
the sole purpose of being let.
With a noticeable number of
new-build developments in the area,
many landlords see H&F as a great
place to secure a long-term investment
in a continually improving borough.
Testament to this are the excellent
results we achieved for our clients in
the new developments of Ashlar Court
and St Peter’s Place in Hammersmith.
We are very excited by the lettings
market ahead. The large amount of
regeneration and new home building
taking place will, we expect, only add
appeal for tenants new to London and
the local area.
The first quarter of each year is a very
busy time for our lettings department,
and January in particular sees a large
number of new tenant registrations as
we are contacted by those who failed
to achieve a targeted move of preChristmas and others who have a goal
of ‘new year, new home’.
In fact, we have already had two
sealed bids during the first two weeks of
January due to very strong interest for
homes that had been on the market for
only a couple of days before receiving
multiple offers.
Now is an excellent time to have your
property valued for let if you are planning
on coming to the market in 2015, to
ensure you are ready to reap the rewards
of this vibrant local lettings market.
Please get in touch.