Walsall Property Values Rise by 3.65% in the Last 12 Months!

Walsall Property Values Rise by 3.65% in the Last 12 Months
Walsall Property Values Rise by 3.65% in the Last 12 Months

Now the headline may not mean much to some of us but when you compare & contrast the value increase against the average national salary drop of 1%…just goes to show that a positive spread of 4.65% is actually quite healthy!

The most recent set of data from the Land Registry has stated that property values in Walsall and the surrounding area were 3.65% higher than 12 months ago and 25.20% higher than September 2012.

Despite the uncertainty over Brexit as Walsall (and most of the UK’s) property values continue their medium and long-term upward trajectory. As economics is about supply and demand, the story behind the Walsall property market can also be seen from those two sides of the story.

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Are Walsall landlords stifling the Walsall property market…?

Are Walsall landlords stifling the Walsall property market…?
Are Walsall landlords stifling the Walsall property market…?

Following the publication of a recent blog article about ‘Generation Rent’ a local homeowner of Walsall contacted me.   He said that he felt that the plight of our Walsall youngsters (first time buyers), was that like of a novice football player trying to bend it like Beckham!  You’re in a minus game playing Beckham at his own game right?  Play him a 100 times and you’re bound to lose 100 times!!  There is no doubt that buy to let landlords have played a major role in driving up property values in Walsall (and the UK) and from that made housing a lot less affordable for the 20-30 somethings of Walsall.

Let us look at how affordable Walsall is.  The best way to measure affordability is to measure Walsall property prices against Walsall average salary (the higher the ratio, the less affordable properties are).  Looking at the table below, for example in 2014, the average value of a Walsall property was 5.95 times higher than the average annual wage in Walsall.

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The 2017 General Election and the Walsall Property Market.

The 2017 General Election and the Walsall Property Market.
The 2017 General Election and the Walsall Property Market.

The past does not equal the future however, it’s as good a barometer as any when it comes to making  attempts to predict it.

Looking and analysing the past 5 general elections I have made some interesting discoveries on the before and after a general election and how this affects the property market…if at all.

Out of the five general elections (1997, 2001, 2005, 2010, 2015) two were not certain (2010 with the coalition government of   Lib-Dems and Conservatives and 2015 with the surprising Tory majority).  So I wanted to compare what happened to the number of houses sold and prices achieved between the three certain elections (1997, 2001 and 2005) against the unexpected ones of 2010 and 2015.

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Rents in Walsall Will Increase More Than Walsall Property Prices By 21%!

Rents in Walsall Will Increase More Than Walsall Property Prices In Next 5 Years!
Rents in Walsall Will Increase More Than Walsall Property Prices In Next 5 Years!

Last weekend I had a meeting with a professional landlord who has an extensive portfolio of properties.  By his own admission, he confirmed that he has somewhat neglected the portfolio which he has kind of left to look after itself.  In recent years his focus was his family-run business so the portfolio wasn’t a priority.  He wanted to change this attitude and become more aggressive with his Walsall property ambitions by expanding on a healthy and varied portfolio.

During our meeting he asked me where in Walsall and what type of property he should purchase to create the best capital growth and great rental yields.  This got me thinking about our property market in Walsall and what has actually happened to rents and property prices..and more importantly for him..projections for the future.

Some fascinating changes are in the air in the Walsall property market.  Just to give you a flavour of the full article below, upon conclusion of my research I found that the rent private tenants pay will rise faster than property prices over the next five years. Creating further issues to Walsall’s growing multitude of renters.  In fact, my examination of statistical forecasts found that –

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