Hello readers, from today non-essential shops re open again for the first time since the lockdown commenced at the end of March. Whilst this is encouraging, it is quite worrying news that the eviction ban has been extended until the end of August.

It will certainly be insightful to see if there is a big rise in repossessions over the next six months due to landlords being unable to afford their mortgage payments due to tenants being out of work and living rent-free in their property. I would be interested to hear if you are experiencing these challenges and what your strategy is?

Amidst all this doom and gloom however, I have been doing some analysis on Medway property prices and thought that I would share the results with you as they demonstrate some interesting and very encouraging results.

Medway house price growth outstrips London by 16%

According to the latest Land Registry data, Medway house price growth has outstripped London by 16% between March 2015 and March 2020. This really is positive news for local investors!

For example, in March 2015, the average property in Medway sold for £181,838 and by March 2020, this had increased to £246,550! This is an increase of £64,712, or 36%. That kind of return is something that you just could not get with a standard savings account, and it doesn’t account for the cashflow generated by the rent over those 5 years.

So how does this compare to London? in March 2015, the average London property sold for £404,706 and by March 2020, this had increased to £485,794; a return of £81,088 or just 20%.

How does this compare to the rest of the UK?

When looking at the rest of the country, UK house average prices have increased by 21% from £191,537 in March 2015 to £231,855 in March 2020 and when you look back over the past decade, Medway’s house prices have increased by 64% compared to a UK average of 38%. Therefore, Medway has outperformed the rest of the UK by 26%!

It is important to remember that property is a long-term game, seeing how Medway’s performance has outstripped not only London, but the rest of the UK is brilliant! With a lower cost to invest than London, Medway is an extremely attractive area for property investors. I would be interested in hearing why you chose to invest in the Medway area.

Why has Medway seen this growth?

I think that one of the main reasons Medway has seen such significant house price growth has been the ability to easily commute into London and with house prices in the city becoming unaffordable for the majority of people on a modest income, places such as Medway have become an affordable alternative. I wonder if you would have anything to add to this.

In addition to this, things such as the high speed rail and huge regeneration projects such as Medway 2035, will continue to transform the town and make it an even more attractive place to live; therefore leading to continued growth in property prices in the coming years.

I would be interested to hear your thoughts on this data. Whilst times are challenging at the moment, I do believe that there will be an increase in opportunities for investment in Medway over the coming 6-12 months and taking a long-term view, I foresee that Medway will continue to be a strong place to invest over the next decade and beyond.

I will be releasing a detailed investment guide over the next few days and include that in my next blog as I know several investors have found it very helpful. I would also be interested to hear more about whether you have changed your investment strategy due to Covid-19 which I think will lead to a short term change to the market, but it will certainly bounce back as from previous experience, the property market is very resilient.

Whether you are investing in single lets of HMOs, I would be more than happy to provide advice and guidance. You can reach me by email at hasan@home-share.co.uk, on LinkedIn or Facebook.

Hasan