Do properties in Stony Stratford make good investments for Buy to Let?

Only last week a resident of Stony Stratford popped into our offices on London Road, Stony Stratford after taking us up on our offer of impartial buy to let advice on the Milton Keynes property market. The gentleman concerned was particularly interested in Stony Stratford itself and I was able to advise him that before Milton Keynes was built, the town itself was a major local market town on the old Watling Street. Stony Stratford has an older part in the centre with Georgian, Victorian and Edwardian houses combined with the more ubiquitous Milton Keynes properties such as the 1960s, 1970s and early 1980s semi- detached houses. Interestingly though, of the 3,283 properties in Stony Stratford only 547 of them are detached (or 16.6%), compared to the 28.4% average in Milton Keynes. There are 1,099 semi detached properties, 1,241 terraced houses.

 

Anyway, he is eager to purchase his first Buy to Let property in Stony Stratford as he has lived there for over 15 years and felt investing around there as he knew it well, we started to discuss the property market in this area. With my local knowledge I was able to tell him that there are plenty of 3 bed semis in Stony Stratford. I particularly like the semi-detached houses around the South Eastern edge of Stony Stratford in the Hale Avenue area, off London Road. Three bedroom semi-detached houses in that area sell for around £220,000 and £230,000 and a good one rents for around £895 per month, a healthy yield of 4.8% to 4.9% per year. It is also interesting to note that since 1999 semi-detached houses in Stony Stratford have, on average, risen by 166.1%, which when you consider the Milton Keynes average property value increase is only 123.8% over the same time scale its good news all round!

 

So with a reasonable yield and excellent capital growth, semi-detached houses in Stony Stratford, especially 3 beds, could make a decent future investment. Of course, the difficulty in this market is that availability is drying up and prices are rising quite quickly now, so finding that gem is getting harder all the time.

 

Whether you are a landlord of ours or someone thinking of investing in the rental market for the first time, drop into our offices on London Road, Stony Stratford for advice on where the bargains are in both Stony Stratford and Milton Keynes.