LATEST FROM THE FOREST HIL...

The Forest Hill Property Market Outperforms the Honor Oak Housing Market by 89%I recently had a discussion with a local landlord who lives in Honor Oak, we got chatting about his existing buy to let property in Sydenham Hill (one of those two bedroomed apartments in the large blocks opposite Horniman Play Area within the junction of London Road). We talked about how it compared to his current property in Honor Oak. I reminded him that buy to let investment is a balance between capital growth and yield and to prove the point, I did a comparison between his existing apartment in Sydenham Hill and his home in Honor Oak and was surprised to discover that the Sydenham Hill property market had outperformed the Honor Oak property market by 89%!The average price of a two bedroomed apartment in the Sydenham Hill area is £250,800. When you consider the rents that are achievable for such properties - on average, £1,105 per month, this gives us a yield of 5.28% per year. So, is the Sydenham Hill property market the best investment? Well, in Honor Oak, where the average value of a detached house is £1,030,000 and the average rent for such a property is £2,403 per month, this gives us a much lower yield of 2.79% per year. That makes the yield/return in the Sydenham Hill area proportionally 89% more than would be achieved in the Honor Oak area, so surely Sydenham Hill is the best investment area isn't it? Well, this is a great example of annual yield/return not being the only factor when choosing an investment property, as you should also consider how the value of property may go up in the long-term. Since 2004 the apartments in Sydenham Hill have risen by an average value of £137,500 to the previously stated £250,800 a rise of 82.4%. However, looking at the Honor Oak property market property values in the same ten years have risen by a very impressive 154.9%. So, if you are going to invest in the Forest Hill property market, whilst we have spoken about the two extremes of making an investment having this kind of information too hand enables me to give the best advice to any landlord wanting to invest in the local property market. Each type of property and each area will always offer differing rates of yield and capital growth and as each landlord's requirements are individual, the best piece of advice I can give you is to speak with an agent who knows what they are talking about. If you would like some advice about buying to let in Forest Hill and the surrounding areas, be you a landlord with an existing portfolio or someone who is thinking of investing in the rental market for the first time, please do not hesitate to contact me on 020 8699 5139 or email me ben@benjamin-matthews.co.uk. The Forest Hill Property Market Outperforms the Honor Oak Housing Market by 89%.