Property Investment in Brighton, Is It A Good Idea?
04 February
Investment Advice
It seems that Brighton certainly holds a lot of good property investment opportunities for investors who invest in the right properties. Steven Kirupai (Director at Brighton Homes) said that the bottom end of the rental market was the best bet for investors because it is very buoyant, the rent is affordable plus you get good rental returns.
The most popular and in demand properties according to our lettings team are studio flats, 1 bed flats and 2 bed flats where tenants will generally do a flat share. These types of properties are most certainly what investors should be looking to invest in as they will rent out easily and will offer good returns over the medium to long term. However, we feel there are 3 opportunities that investors could employ in Brighton and here are our suggestions.
Investors could target the city centre young professional market and invest in studio apartments or 1 and 2 bed flats. Studio apartments can be purchased for around £115,000 and a good one bed flat can be bought for around £140,000. Both of these kinds of properties offer good rental returns and have good capital growth potential over a 5 to 10 year period.
Your next strategy would be to target the town’s student market. This is a wise choice for many reasons because there will be no lack of students looking to rent and there will be a good student market year on year. The returns on student lets are also good compared to other areas of the rental market. However, competition amongst landlords will be high and suitable properties maybe difficult to get hold of. So you will need to be patient in order to find the right properties to buy.
Your final strategy is to refurbish or renovate properties and either rent them out or sell them on. This is always a sound strategy to employ in any town or city but Brighton will hold many suitable projects as many of the properties in the town are very old and there will be many great property bargains out there if you look carefully enough. Projects to look out for are converting old town houses or terraced properties into self contained studio flats, or refurbishing old terraced houses and turning them into a modern living environment whilst keeping all of the traditional features which buyers love. If you need help in finding a project please call us 01273 672 333.
If you can get some good deals and buy property at a good price, there are significant profits to be made. Our advice is to be patient when looking for potential projects, know local property prices and never over pay for a potential project as you will only eat into your profits!
Another thing to be aware of is if investors are going to use standard 80% to 85% buy to let mortgages to buy properties then I would not expect much profit from your rent each month and in some cases, you may only break even. If you want to increase your rental profits, you will have to consider putting a larger deposit down or have a long term investment strategy so that you plan to grow your investment over a 5 to 10 year period.
As regards to your investment strategy, you will see the best returns if you have a medium to long term investment strategy of 5 to 10 years. This is probably the safest strategy as you are holding onto your investments over an extended period of time where hopefully property prices will rise meaning that you can build significant equity up in your investments. This is a wise and safe strategy for all property investors.
We at Brighton Homes have specialised departments with well experienced staff who will be able to help you. Should you wish to pop in and chat to us on an informal basis, you are most welcome to come and see us at our city centre office or call 01273 672 333.
