On the dark winter nights, if there is nothing on the telly,
the significant other and myself like to play the board game Monopoly. The
buying and renting of property, it’s like a busman’s holiday for me! Interestingly,
the game was originally invented at the turn of the 20th Century (in 1903) and
the game was initially called ‘The Landlord’s Game’! Anyway, after a few years in the wilderness,
the current owners of the game renamed it in 1935 and so began Monopoly as we
know it today.
So whether you are a homeowner or landlord in Canterbury,
what would a Monopoly board look like today in the city? Property prices over
the last 80 years have certainly increased beyond all recognition, so looking
at the original board, I have substituted some of the original streets with the
most expensive and least expensive locations in Canterbury today.
Initially, I have focused on the CT1 postcode only, looking
at the Brown Squares on the board, the ‘new’ Old Kent Road in Canterbury today
would be Godwin Road, with an average value £127,400 (per property) and
Whitechapel Road would be Rhodaus Close, which would be worth £147,500. What
about the posh dark blue squares of Park Lane and Mayfair? Again, looking at CT1,
Park Lane would be Ethelbert Road at £484,300 and Mayfair would be St
Augustine’s Road at £592,700. However, look a little further afield from the CT1
postcode, and such roads as Harbledown Park in Harbledown would claim the
Mayfair card at £664,200! Also, I can’t forget the train stations (my favourite
squares), and over the last 6 months, the average price that property within a
quarter mile of the Canterbury West Station sold for was £305,000.
So that got me thinking what you would have had to have paid
for a property in Canterbury back in 1935, when the game originally came out?
- The average Canterbury detached house today is worth £480,900 would have set you back 870 Pounds 1 shillings and 10 old pence.
- The average Canterbury semi detached house today is worth £270,680 would have set you back 489 Pounds 14 shillings and 10 old pence.
- The average Canterbury terraced / town house today is worth £252,800 would have set you back 457 Pounds 7 shillings and 9 old pence.
- The average Canterbury apartment today is worth £206,500 would have set you back 373 Pounds 12 shillings and 5 old pence.
If that sounds like another currency, you must be in your
20’s or 30’s, because it was back in February 1971, that Britain went decimal
and hundreds of years of everyday currency was turned into history overnight.
On 14th of February of that year, there were 12 pennies to the shilling and 20
shillings to the pound. The following day all that was history and the pound
was made up of 100 new pence.
Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this bit of fun, but underlying
all this is one important fact. Property investing is a long game, which has
seen impressive rises over the last 80 years. In my previous articles I have
talked about what is happening on a month by month or year by year basis and if
you are going to invest in the Canterbury property market, you should consider
the Canterbury property you buy a medium to long term investment, because Buy
to let is pretty much what it sounds like – you buy a property in order to rent
it out to tenants.
As I reminded a soon to be first time landlord from Tyler
Hill the other week, Buy to let in Canterbury (as in other parts of the
Country) is very different from owning your own home. When you become a Canterbury
landlord, you are in essence running a small business – one with important
legal responsibilities. On that note, I want to remind landlords of the recent
and future changes in legislation when it comes to buy to let. Last year, rules
have changed about tenant deposits, carbon monoxide detectors and early in the
New Year, landlords will have responsibilities to do immigration checks on all
their tenants. Failure to adhere to them will mean a minimum of heavy fines in
the thousands or in some cases, prison ... it’s a mine field! That’s why I write the Canterbury Property
Blog, where it has an extensive library of articles like this one, where I talk
about what is happening in the Canterbury property market, what to buy (and
sometimes not) in Canterbury and everything else that is important to know as a
Canterbury landlord. Please visit the Canterbury Property Blog www.canterburypropertyblog.com
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