Summary: 4 bed house in Chichester Listed for sale on 11/05/21 @ £369,995 Rent = £1,500pcm Yield = 4.9%
This four-bedroom house is on the Shopwyke Lakes development in Chichester and I think offers very good value indeed. That's despite it being relatively expensive at £369,995 compared to most of my buy-to-let picks and it being virtually a new-build. Importantly though, the new-build prices on the site seem much higher than this comparably, whilst this house remains in fantastic condition.
It's also a large property, with four bedrooms (although technically the fourth bedroom is a 'study' due to its small size). And in addition to what you'd expect of a newish build, two of the bedrooms have an en-suite, whilst there's also a good-sized kitchen/diner and neat rear garden.
I'd therefore expect it to rent for £1,500pcm due to its great condition, good size and the limited rental stock on the market currently. That would equate to a very strong 4.9% rental return, from a reasonably new freehold property that requires little to no works to be ready to rent.
Summary: 3 bed house in Tangmere Listed for sale on 07/01/21 @ £315,000 Rent = £1,250pcm Yield = 4.8%
This nice-sized three bedroom house in Tangmere is on a newish estate (built circa 2018/19), meaning it's modern throughout and in very good condition. Set over three floors it has well-proportioned rooms, included two large double bedrooms and a further single bedroom.
Outside there is a South-facing garden, which is a little bigger than most new-build plots (although the quality of grass installation isn't much better looking at the photos!), plus there's a garage and driveway.
This would therefore make a lovely family home, which I believe should rent for £1,250pcm. That figure would equate to a 4.8% rental return based on the asking price of £315,000. That's a very decent return for a nearly-new freehold property in a growing and popular village.
The property is on the market with King & Chasemore and full details can be found on Rightmove via the following link:
Summary: 4 bed house in Chichester Listed for sale on 18/11/20 @ £280,000 Now = £265,000 Rent = £1,100pcm Yield = 5.0% Last sold for £64,950 in 1999 (+308% in 22 years)
This is the cheapest four-bedroom house currently available to buy in Chichester, at a very reasonable-looking £265,000. That's a slight misrepresentation of the property's original form though, as what was a three-bed house has been reconfigured to provide four (rather small) bedrooms. Even so, the square footage you get from this freehold house in Chichester, which appears to be in very good condition, is decent for the price tag (which has been reduced from its original £280,000 asking price).
I assume the house was formerly let to students, based on the configuration and the matching bedroom furniture and single beds. It could be re-instated as one and produce a very decent return. But, like this landlord and many others, student lets are seemingly falling out of favour - both due to a supply and demand imbalance and, now, because of the coronavirus. It could therefore be time to re-configure it back to it's three-bedroom layout and rent it to young professionals or a family. Its proximity to St Richard's Hospital should ensure a steady supply of tenants and I'd expect it to rent for around £1,100pcm, which would provide a decent 5% rental return based on the current asking price. It's layout could also give rise to converting it to several bedsits or studio apartments, which could again provide a way of squeezing more rental income out of the property, if that's what you were looking for.
The current owner purchased the property just before the turn of the millennium. In that time it has quadrupled in value, from £64,950 in 1999 to £265,000 today.
The property is on the market with Cubitt & West and full details can be found on Rightmove via the following link:
Summary: 4 bed house in Chichester Listed for sale on 19/06/20 @ £375,000 Now = £300,000 Rent = £1,300pcm Yield = 5.2%
This four-bedroom townhouse close to St Richard's Hospital in Chichester has been on sale since June. In that time it has been reduced in price several times, to now stand at £300,000, which is £75,000 (or 20%!) cheaper than when it was first listed.
It is a similar house to one I highlighted in October as a buy-to-let deal of the week (http://chichesterproperty.blogspot.com/2020/10/Chichester-house-rental-buytolet9.html). It is therefore a similar proposition too; a large, modern, freehold house available in Chichester for a reasonable price, which should be popular amongst tenants and result in a decent yield of 5.2%.
A few things stand out to me from the advert - the fact the headline price is £300,000 and yet the description says "offers in excess of £325,000" is one. Not only is this inconsistent, but I suspect a hangover from the previous asking price of "offers in excess of £325,000"...which proved to be false as it got reduced in price once more (and shows "offers in excess of" is a largely meaningless marketing tool). Secondly, one of the big pluses of the house is it's size...and yet there is no floorplan!? The nine photos don't really do the property and its size justice either, nor show the parking and garage that comes with the property (a big bonus in this street, which suffers from tough parking restrictions).
All in all then, this property could make a great Christmas purchase - be it for homeownership or buy-to-let purposes.
The property is on the market with King and Chasemore and full details can be found on Rightmove via the following link:
Summary: 4 bed house in Chichester Listed for sale on 11/08/20 @ £525,000 Rent = £2,625pcm Yield = 6.0%
Having written about buying a developer's show home, I thought I'd bring a real-life example to this week's buy-to-let deal of the week.
The Shopwyke Lakes developer Cala Homes have a couple of show homes for sale on the development, including this four-bedroom semi-detached house priced at £525,000. They offer a 6% rental return for at least 18 months. As per the main article though, there are a couple of points to note:
The minimum period is 18 months, although my experience from show homes is they're always needed a little longer than anticipated. As such, for as long as it remains the show home you do get a fantastic monthly rent (of £2,625pcm based on a 6% return from the £525,000 asking price). When the developers leave though, you'll either want to sell the property or re-let it to 'normal' tenants. In the current market I'd expect you to do so for around £1,600pcm, meaning a rather less headline-grabbing rental yield of 3.7%.
The property is on the market with Cala Homes and full details can be found on Rightmove via the following link:
Summary: 4 bed house in Chichester Listed for sale on 19/06/20 @ £375,000 Now = £325,000 Rent = £1,300pcm Yield = 4.8%
This large four-bedroom townhouse is located close to St Richard's Hospital in Chichester, which will always mean there's a steady stream of tenants wanting to rent the property due to its location.
Whilst many of the townhouses in this area are let to students or sharers, simply letting it to a single household will achieve a decent 4.8% return based on a rent of £1,300pcm and an asking price of £325,000. Bear in mind too that asking price has been reduced by £50,000 since being listed just a couple of months ago for £375,000!
The house is around 10 years old so has modern fixtures and fittings as well as the (now almost obligatory) gas central heating and double glazing. It has also been re-decorated recently according to the advert, so there should be little work required to get it ready to rent.
One thing the advert lacks is a floorplan, which is to the detriment of the seller as perhaps the biggest selling point to the home is its size and, most notably, it having four double bedrooms. In fact, the house is something of a tardis as it looks quite narrow from the outside. It also has a garage, which is always a good extra to have on a large family home. Add all this to its location and it would make a good buy-to-let investment at what appears to be a reasonable price.
The property is on the market with King & Chasemore and full details can be found on Rightmove via the following link:
4 bed house in Chichester Listed for sale on 29/05/20 @ £485,000 Now = £450,000 Rent = £1,600pcm Yield = 4.3%
To coincide with writing about the stamp duty relief up to £500,000 that now exists, I thought I'd pick a buy-to-let property that maximises that saving. I found a new-build property on Graylingwell Park at £490,000 (close enough right?) but then noticed an identical house (albeit a couple of years old now) up for sale for £450,000. A £40,000 saving for having had someone else work through the snagging - sounds like a deal to me!
At over 1,600 square feet I believe it is one of the largest houses on Graylingwell Park. It also means on a '£ per square foot basis' it compares well to other properties on the estate and in Chichester. Having been reduced to £450,000 from £485,000 when first listed in May, it means it now costs around £280 per square foot. Three-bedroom houses on Lloyd Road in Graylingwell Park are around 1,000 square feet and £330,000, equating to £330 per square foot, whilst the average value in Chichester is around £340 per square foot.
You often find good value like this on townhouses such as this property i.e. ones set over three floors. The house provides four generous double bedrooms, a large living space and a kitchen/diner. Bear in mind as well that published square footage doesn't include the integral garage and large balcony! Even the garden (which is South-facing) is a reasonable size compared to others on the estate.
The above goes to show that what may seem relatively expensive at first glance compared to nearby properties actually isn't when you delve a little deeper. Unfortunately, it can take the market a little while to work this out, which will have a similar impact on the rental value. £1,600pcm seems relatively conservative for such a large property in great condition and in a nice part of Chichester. But that is reflective of prospective tenants just seeing it as a '4 bed end-of-terrace'. Even so, a 4.3% rental return based on that figure isn't bad in the wider context of buying a property significantly below it's new-build equivalent, which should do well from a capital growth standpoint as people catch on to its positives in the future.
The property is on the market with White & Brooks and full details can be found on Rightmove via the following link:
Summary4* bed house in ChichesterListed for sale on 10/07/24 @ £325,000Rent = £1,800pcm*Yield = 6.6%*Last sold for £167,500 in 2009 (+94% in 15 years)
