Friday, Aug 17, 2007
Crash? Fed recovers and prices still booming.
Mail: Property price boom in university towns
Property investors are piling into university towns - sending house prices soaring by up to four times the rate in the rest of the country.
Posted by david20040_0 @ 06:49 PM (916 views) Add Comment
13 Comments
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1. david20040_0 said...
Property is STILL seen as undervalued and due to stock market volatility is probably now going to rocket again.
2. Mark said...
not so, only today have i had in excess of 10 email updates from rightmove for new properties for cheshire area, people are starting to worry, they have heard crash mentioned on the news on TV...
3. Bearfacts said...
This is yet another of the Halifax's bog standard press releases saved for when times get a bit sticky, they have a huge stack of these things gathering dust in their filing cabinets - prices boom in market towns, prices boom on the coast, prices boom in Wales, prtices boom in Scotland , prices boom in commuter towns etc etc -- if there is any truth in what they say then non university towns and cities must have rates of HPI considerably below the average. So bloody predictable and yet the press lap it up.
Property is only seen as undervalued by complete morons and estate agents ( hold on same thing ) - AMN AMRO reckon its 50% overvalued - I would say that is a conservative estimate.
4. enuii said...
Property is NOT undervalued, the market is suffering from marked speculation, this is especially evident in university towns and is fed by the governments policy of KEEPING AS MANY YOUNGSTERS IN HIGHER EDUCATION AS POSSIBLE AT THEIR OWN (AND THEIR PARENTS) EXPENSE.
This is fuelling the property fire in these towns as BTL speculators take advantage of the requirement for student rooms, and is viewed as more of a DEAD CERT because properties can be split into 5 or more student lets.
Ultimately the market is based on borrowed and not earned money and funded on the backs of the current generation taking large debts forward into their early working lives.
5. dohousescrashinthewoods said...
I agree enuii.
However, I thought these days students tend to live in purpose-built flats, locking out private landlords?
6. uncle chris said...
"Investors can cram five or six students into a three-bedroom house without having to spend a fortune on high-class furniture and fittings."
Well actually, NO you can't as the house would then come under "Houses of Multiple Occupation (Category B)" laws which would legally prevent the 'cramming' of students. The actual regulations would require landlords of such properties to spend a fortune before getting the property in safe 'lettable' order. And if landlords try to get round this legislation then are are committing an offence. This is a very irresponsible article, quite obviously designed to try a prop-up the flagging BTL industry now that FTBs are near-extinct.
If you are bored, then check this summary of the HMO regulations, and then decide if you fancy delving into the student market.
HMO Summary from LandlordZone
7. david20040_0 said...
From my experience student houses housing 5 plus is typical.
8. captain sensible said...
Universities a little while ago latched onto the idea that they could significantly boost their strained budgets by building more high quality student accomodation. The university nearest to me is doing just that, with lots more rooms coming online this Autumn. I'm confident that lots of these BTL landlords will get their fingers badly burned. How many students want to rent poorly maintained private sector accom a bus ride away from campus when they can rent a purpose built room on campus and two minutes walk from the lecture theatre?
9. Matt said...
This rubbish is typical of the author Sean Poulter.Look at some of his other articles to see why.
He is clearly marked for a flying career at the grotty Mail.Ignore.
10. Surfgatinho said...
"Generally, homes close to the university sell for an average of £25,852 more than those in the surrounding area or county."
This doesn't necessarily mean that the university is responsible for these prices. It is just as likely they are towns where the jobs are. I think you'll find most important towns are more expensive than irrelevant 'any-towns'
I think this journalist may be confusing cause and effect
11. deepak said...
Read.. Why university towns.
Its simple because you charge the rooms out rather than a house.
For a 3 box rooms you might get £350 or so per month but if you game the same home to a family you will get at best £600 pm.
Hence the prices could be rising in university town. But this is limitied to properties closer to college. and also for small terraced and semi's where owner will be able to make anything out of it.
Simple maths.
12. Drewster said...
This is a bad time to be banking on student housing. Rising tuition fees are leading more students to stay at home and attend a local uni, rather than build up massive debts at a far-away uni.
Furthermore, private companies like UNITE are building massive blocks of apartments exclusively for students. UNITE have student-friendly terms such as 40-week leases, weekly cleaners, on-site security, managed utility bills, and much more. If I were a student again, it'd be a fairly clear choice.
13. bidin'matime said...
My brother owns three houses in a university city, bought about 5 years ago - I asked him if he makes enough to pay for his time in managing them and he said 'minimum wage..! I asked him, if he sold them, how much their current values would have to be reduced by to make them profitable for the buyer - he said 50%! There was a spark of realisation at that point, but he quickly suppressed this and insists that prices will not fall...