Hello Medway Property Investors,

It’s always important to have a firm understanding of the local market when making a property investment and I have been spending some time compiling a thorough report, looking at the makeup of HMOs within Medway.

The HMO market can be relatively competitive, so it is vital to have a good knowledge of the local competition prior to making your investment.

As Medway’s most experienced HMO agent, I have a very firm grasp of the standard landlords need to meet to achieve the maximum potential of their property and this is something I go through in detail with new investors along with current landlords looking to expand their portfolio.

According to SpareRoom, there are currently 156 rooms available within Medway (filtered to live-out landlord only) and a basic search of rooms wanted reveals that 182 people are looking for a room!

“Medway currently has 156 HMO rooms available

and 182 people looking for a room!”

My experience is that the market is currently experiencing an influx of tenant demand and this really does serve to illustrate it! The map below indicates the HMO hotspots where rooms are currently available. You will see how they are generally around three main hotspots.

I drilled down deeper into the detail to compile an overview of the makeup of Medway HMOs and the graph below certainly shows some interesting data!

It is particularly interesting to see how only 81% include bills and 96% include internet. From my experience, the best way to let an HMO is to include all bills and have an excellent internet connection so it is interesting to see (but probably not surprising) that this is not the case with all properties.

One benefit for tenants choosing a room to rent is how the property they are moving into will be furnished. Room tenants in Medway and the South East generally expect their rooms to be furnished, this is reflected in the stats showing 98% of properties offered on Spareroom are furnished.

In addition to this, having some form of communal area can make a big difference – particularly as we have started to grow accustomed to working from home more! The data reflects how 30% of properties do not have this space and whilst this would lead to an extra bedroom being available, I know that having a communal space can make a big difference to how easy it is to let rooms in a property.

The next stat which is interesting to see is current HMO rents by postcode sector. Interestingly, the rents in ME7 and ME5 are higher than ME8 and ME4. I believe this is because the ME5 postcodes and ME7 have a higher demand caused by workers at the hospital. ME2 is the highest, and this is because in my opinion there is an undersupply of rooms in Strood.

The final stat to look at is the current available HMO rooms by postcode. Something that stands out here is ME7 which you will see has the highest number of available rooms and one of the lowest rates. ME7 largely represents the Gillingham area, where there is a slight over saturation of HMOs and therefore to stand out it is important to have well-developed tenant sourcing processes alongside offering properties with an extremely high standard of finish.

As ever, I trust that you found this article helpful! I always find that taking time to research the local market is so extremely valuable and if you are considering investing in an HMO within the Medway Towns then I would be happy to answer any questions that you may have. The best way to reach me is through LinkedIn.

Hasan