Falkirk tenants feel the squeeze as rents continue to rise

As my regular readers know, my passion is talking about the Falkirk property market which I hope will be of interest to both home owners and buy to let landlords alike. However, this week, I want to highlight the plight of the tenants of Falkirk as more and more of their wages are being taken up by ever increasing rents.

The cost of renting a home in Falkirk has broken through the £490 a month barrier as the average rent for a property in the town now stands at £492 per month which is around 11.8% higher than 12 months ago.

House price inflation has certainly eased in Falkirk from the heady days of 2015, but still with retail price inflation (for goods and services) being around 0.5%, any increase in property values, no matter how small, means in real terms property is still getting more expensive. Meanwhile, many tenants have given up saving for a mortgage deposit as rents continue to take more and more of their wage packets leaving nothing to save for a deposit. That means, more and more tenants are deciding to rent for the long term and therefore the desire for decent high quality rental properties continues to exceed the available rental stock.

I would go as far as to suggest that rents are an ideal barometer to the state of the local economy as a whole and strongly believe that the recent increase in Falkirk rents are a sign that the Falkirk economy is picking up.

This means Falkirk landlords are continuing to capitalise on the Falkirk property market. The most recent Zoopla data suggests the annual property price rises in the town have eased over the last year, leaving property values 2.99% higher than 12 months ago. With property price growth easing off, the increasing rents mean that rental yields are strengthening for the first time in years to compensate. The mortgage market is still competitive and so everything is set to be good news for landlords even with the Finance Secretary’s and the Chancellor’s change of tax rules in the coming years for buy to let mortgages (so long as you take the right steps to mitigate some of the effect of these tax changes).

You can get some amazingly low mortgage rate deals at the moment, so with mortgage rates so low and returns still extraordinarily attractive, there’s rarely been a better time to invest in rental properties.

However, (you knew there would be a however!), it’s all about buying the right property at the right price. Not all property types are seeing equal rises in rents and capital growth.  Different parts of the town, different types of properties are experiencing quite different changes.  For example, the average length of time Falkirk one bed properties take to rent is 49 days whereas it takes on average 65 and 46 days to rent 2 and 3 bed properties respectively.

When you start comparing different parts of Falkirk, the numbers are even stranger!  The bottom line is that you must take advice and opinion. One source of advice and opinion is The Falkirk Property Blog. In The Falkirk Property Blog, you will see many more articles like this, discussions and even what I consider to be the best buy to let deals around, irrespective of which agent is selling it.

Whether you are a landlord, a ‘Homes Under the Hammer’ addict or just a homeowner who is interested in what is happening to the local property market, then please visit The Falkirk property Blog (www.thefalkirkproperty blog.co.uk), contact me for a chat (phone us on 01324 649840), come and see me in our offices (6 Vicar Street, Falkirk) or email us (falkirk@thekeyplace.co.uk).