Westgate– the place to buy a ‘buy to let’?

 

One of the final chunks of census data has recently been released by the Government, and for those of you who like to look at data, it is a treasure trove of information. Information is so important when making decisions on what (or not) to buy when investing in property. A few weeks ago, I was discussing the roads around St. Stephen’s and Hales Place. Today, I want to look at the area around the Cathedral going West into Westgate. The census data allows anyone to look at the data for housing estates or areas, but even better down to individual roads. Such information allows us to weigh up potential hotspots in the rental market and show potential landlords where there could be an opportunity.

There are 9,841 people living in 4,461 properties in the Westgate area. It is the home ownership percentages that really got me fascinated, as it is this information, tied in with our intimate knowledge of the market, where we can match tenant demand to an under supply of rental properties. In this area of the immediate City centre and Westgate, of those 4,461 households, 25.6% own their property without a mortgage (compared to the 35.5% Canterbury average) and additional 20.8% households own their property with a mortgage (again the Canterbury average is only slightly higher at 30.4% and that includes all the posh villages!).

However, the thing that interested me was the high level of private rented property. In the Westgate area, 34.2% (or be exact 1,527 households) are in the private rented sector (compared with the Canterbury average of 17.5%). With such excellent demand from homeowners and tenants, this could be the right area to purchase your next buy to let investment, especially as the some of the one bed apartments are achieving yields in the 5% to 6% region and Westgate values always perform well over the long term.

Therefore, if you are considering buying a property for investment in the near future, I am always happy to give you my considered opinion on which property to buy (or not as the case may be) to give you what you want from your investment. If you are a landlord, new or old, we’re certainly more than happy for you to pop in and see us at our offices on Watling Street for a chat or email me direct on david.anthony@martinco.com