Boxgrove Gardens developed for town and country living

This delightful development has been built on a former Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) site. This development was a highly successful example of where disused public land can be developed to create desirable, well designed new housing for people to enjoy in an area where they want to live.

Honoured by a visit from David Cameron and Nick Clegg 

The Boxgrove Gardens development was held up as such a fine example, that it was selected as a location for both The Prime Minister, Rt Hon David Cameron MP and his Deputy, the Rt Hon Nick Clegg MP, to visit in 2011 to announce the Government's new Housing Strategy, underpinned by the new mortgage initiative Help to Buy, for new homes, providing 95% loan to value mortgages.

This 199 home sustainable development, less than a mile from Guildford’s High Street, is an award-winning example of mixed tenure with 70 homes built for shared ownership and affordable rent.

The stylish development has quickly become one of Guildford’s most desirable new neighbourhoods, with houses built with airy conservatories, timber detailing, spacious balconies and floor-to-ceiling windows surrounded by lush, green, modern gardens.

4 bed semi detached featured in a recent blog

The development comprises superb one and two-bedroom apartments plus prestigious three, four and five-bedroom signature houses, The centrepiece is Uplands House, a historic former country manor. This has been converted into stunning apartments overlooking the beautifully, landscaped gardens.

Uplands House converted into flats and adjacent to stunning gardens

Three large oak structures now enhance the grounds of Boxgrove Gardens thanks to the Council, artist Roger Day and developer Linden Homes. The sculptures, collectively called Connected Living, highlight the public right of way that passes through the site to Merrow Downs. Each sculpture has an opening that people can look through, leading them to the next sculpture and the countryside beyond.

Connected Living sculpture by Roger Day

It generally takes only a short amount of time to let properties on this stunning development. Tenants consider the proximity of both Merrow Downs and Guildford town centre to be an advantage. In one moment you are shopping in a bustling High Street and the next strolling through the countryside with views over Surrey and into West Sussex. A recent blog featured a four bed semi-detached property in Saxon Gardens on the market for £650,000. A three bedroom end of terraced property is currently available for an asking price of £499,995.  A two bed flat would be priced at around £325,000.

As the development was built only recently, in 2010, these properties will offer an excellent standard of accommodation built to recent building codes and so will rent out quickly. The rent that could be achieved for the four bed semi is £2695 pcm; £2,225 pcm for the 3 bed house and around £1,525 pcm for the two bed flats. This means investors can potentially expect yields of around 5% to 5.5% per year.

Whether you have already done a search for property, or are trying to figure out where to start, we’re happy to advise on properties before you buy, to let out. It’s in your interest that you purchase something that can let quickly, whether you are currently one of our clients, or not, so if you would like advice about what could make a good investment, please call 01483 320 207 or email richard@guildfordpropertyblog.co.uk

Will flats in GU1 offer the best return?

Having considered a number of investment opportunities recently that have seen a potential return of more than 5% from purchasing a flat I thought we should examine the case for investing in flats, in Guildford, and in particular in the GU1 postcode area.

There is a considerable range of flats in GU1, from 1 bed to 3 beds, purpose built and conversions. There are developments built overlooking Stoke Park or The River Wey too, all offering pleasant surroundings and views over the town, yet within walking distance of shops and transport links.

The price range varies enormously too.  For example, a one bed flat in a cul de sac just off Manor Road was featured recently in the blog, because the asking price of £169,950 was considered to be one of the lowest prices to be paid for a residential property that it not a shared ownership, in Guildford, in recent times. However this was in the GU2 postcode area.

One of the lowest priced properties in Guildford at £169,950

At the other end of the scale one might expect to pay in excess of £1/2 million for a three bed purpose built flat in Printing House Square, just off Guildford High Street, as this is a prime location, in the centre of town where local services and shops are all very accessible. The flats in this development were also built to a very high specification.

High spec flats in prime location

In fact there are over 5,700 flats, in the GU1 postcode area alone. This represents around 39.77% of the housing stock in the GU1 postcode area, with the Guildford average being 19.51% compared to the national average of 17.36%. 

The average asking price of flats with one or two bedrooms in Guildford is around £269,950, which is nearly 3.45% higher than it was 12 months ago. 

You can buy a two bedroom flat, for example in the development on Jordans Close, Boxgrove for a very reasonable £250,000. If a landlord secures the typical monthly rental of £1,100 for a property there, they will manage a gross yield of 5.3%. 

This compares favourably with flats in the Printing House development where one might expect a gross yield of around 3.9%. This is perhaps the reason why many of these flats are let out as serviced apartments achieving £155 per night. Assuming these have (say) an 80% occupancy rate the monthly rental would amount to £3,720 and the gross yield would be as high as 8.5% which certainly would not be achieved when investing in flats elsewhere in Guildford.

Flats attract gross yield of up to 8.5%

Finally, let’s not forget about the potential increase in capital value of the property, which as is always the case, the dominating factor in the Guildford property market.

I was looking at the two bedroom flats in the Faraday Road development recently to discover that they sold for around £183,000, when new, in 2004. This value has almost doubled in the 11 years since (even allowing for the price dip 2007-8), as one was sold for £320,000 earlier this year. Prices will continue to increase for the foreseeable future now that we have a Conservative Government and therefore a pro-property party in power.

Flats in Faraday Rd nearly double in price since 2004

If you would like advice about what could make a good investment, please call 01483 320 207 or email richard@guildfordpropertyblog.co.uk.

Does Farncombe offer better returns than Godalming or Guildford?

A client living in Godalming has asked what my thoughts were on the town's suitability as a place to buy to let.

The Godalming property market has been slowing down a little over the past quarter following a substantial rise in prices 12 month's ago. However the town is expected to benefit from a resurgence in house price growth in the forthcoming months, now that there is a new pro-property Government in power.

The best advice we can give to those looking to invest in property is our secret trick of the trade. You can judge the affordability of a town by simply finding the ratio of the average property price to the average salary. The lower the ratio, the more affordable property is.

When we put this to the test, we found that Godalming currently has an average property value of around £537,518 with the average salary being £30,118. This is a ratio of 1 to 17.85. Meanwhile in Guildford, where the average property price is £509,223 the ratio of property values to salary is 1 to 15.66, which suggests that property in Godalming is 14% less affordable than in Guildford.

The Pepperpot, Godalming

We also had a look at Farncombe and found the average salary there is £30,118 and the average property value is £291,448. This means that property in Farncombe is 47% more affordable than in Guildford, with a much lower ratio of 1 to 8.3.

This could mean that now is an excellent time to invest in Farncombe. The affordability ratio is lower; and prices are starting to recover though a little bit later than in both Godalming and Guildford. 

A 3 bed semi-detached property in Farncombe can be purchased for as little as £350,000 and let for £1,345 pcm to provide a gross yield of 4.6%. In Godalming £350,000 may only afford you a 2 bed semi-detached property, unless you can locate a 3 bed townhouse to buy, as these do tend to sell for a little less than conventional 3 bed properties. The rental for a typical 2 bed house in Godalming is around £1,195 pcm providing a gross yield 13% lower than in Farncombe.

Guildford might however offer the best investment opportunities. If we keep to the asking price of £350,000 there are several 3 bedroom properties that can be located in the Bellfields area, where one can achieve a rental of up to £1,500 pcm. This will achieve a gross yield of 5.1% which is 10% higher than what is achievable in Farncombe.

To discuss how much your property is worth or where you should make your next property investment in Guildford, call me for a chat on 01483 320 207 or sign up to The Guildford Property Blog. I should love to hear from you.

Ex-council properties in Guildford ... are they good buy to let investments?

Have your property cake and eat it?

It is common knowledge that many landlords purchase their investment properties in Bellfields because they have found that these ex-council properties can achieve good, annual yields of around 7%. This is especially so if they take advantage of the typical layout and design of these properties. 

Most are built with an outhouse where coal would have been stored in the old days; or alternatively an outside toilet. Those investors that have demolished this outhouse have been able to build a substantial extension in its place to provide an additional utility room, toilet and reception room and if a two storey extension, an ensuite bedroom upstairs.

6 bed HMO delivers 14% gross yield

Investors in Houses of Multiple Occupation (HMO's) have taken this process one step further by modifying a 3 bedroom house on Hornbeam Road, for example, to convert a downstairs reception room into a bedroom to provide a total of 4 bedrooms and then extend out to the rear to enlarge the kitchen to create a larger communal area and two further bedrooms. They also managed to squeeze a shower unit into each bedroom to maximise their rental from the property. 

Their rental income amounted to a staggering £4,200 pcm, compared with a typical rental of £1,350 for a similar 3 bed property down the street that has not been extended. This investor would have paid (at current asking prices) £360,000, so is achieving a remarkable gross yield of 14%. This obviously does not account for the investment required to extend the property but no doubt the increase in property value (estimated to be £450,000) has enabled the investor to remortgage and therefore take most of his money out of the property to provide a very healthy return on cash invested.

While this opportunity will deliver an extremely healthy cashflow the next question to ask is "would the capital growth for this property in Hornbeam Road be typical of that experienced by Guildford property taken as a whole?"  

What is the capital growth in Grange Rd compared with Hornbeam Rd?

How does capital growth compare for these 3 bed houses compared with Hornbeam Rd?

When sold prices for Hornbeam Road are  compared with those for similar sized 3 bed semi detached properties in nearby Grange Road and Princess Mary Close, Queen Elizabeth Park, built in 2003, the following figures, suggest that the answer is a resounding "yes".

The growth in capital for the houses in Hornbeam Road was 200%, Grange Road was 169% and finally Princess Mary Close was just 132%.

While the ex council estate property may have been considerably cheaper to purchase 11 year's ago it's growth rate would suggest that the demand by investors and owner occupiers for these properties has increased and therefore pushed prices up over this period. However they still remain cheaper than properties in the surrounding areas and will therefore remain attractive to investors especially if they are keen to create an HMO as the landlord quoted above did so successfully.

It therefore does seem that you can have your property "cake" and eat it!

If you would like advice about what could make a good investment, please call 01483 320 207 or email richard@guildfordpropertyblog.co.uk