Lettings in South Bucks Still Going Strong

Lettings in South Bucks Still Going Strong (at December 2008)

Although many local estate agents in South Bucks are finding business very slow on the sales side, those with Residential letting offices or our stand alone lettings agents are very busy. From my work in a local agent in High Wycombe, I have noticed that the telephone lines are very busy, people keep on coming in through the door to look for rentals or to sign up to a letting and this is good news.

Employment levels are still good and those that could be tempted to buy are finding they are having to wait longer to save up for a mortgage as a result of the credit cruch. This means that they have to find a higher deposit than they would have done earlier in the year and need to rent till they can afford to buy.

Others are waiting to see if sale prices are going to continue to drop before going ahead to buy. As long as property owners are asking the rental prices that an agent suggests they should let ok. In High Wycombe, Bucks like neighbouring Slough in Berks there are a lot of new build devopments and many buy-to-let investors have opted for these.

This means there is an excellent choice, however many investors decide not to furnish a property so a prospective tenant has to consider purchasing furniture. This can add to a tenant's costs as they will also have to rent a vehicle to move their belongings in an out.

As long as employment stays high then the rental market will remain strong, however as each day the media is reporting x number being made reduntant here or there then there will be a knock on effect.

In the late 1980's and early 1990's the housing market was bad as well. The negative equity situation was dramatic and many people could not sell and kept their studio apartments and small flats instead. They often let them out to cover the mortgage costs and in that era interest rates were very high unlike in 2008 where we have the lowest interest rates for over fifty years in the UK.

There was always a good market for the smaller properties as there appears to be today and it is important that Landlords who own older style property keep them modernised and up to date. Tenants quite often want to view several properties and if it is a choice between new build or one that has seen better days, when there is a large choice of property then a renter will naturally go for the better property.

At times like these both Landlords and Tenants will often want to save costs and the one cost they should never cut down on is the rental insurance for the property. For the landlord, this can usually be offeset against a tax liability on the rental and the tenant can have peace of mind (providing they take the corect policy) knowing that if they spill theit wine or coffee on the landlord's carpet they are covered.

Although the economic outlook is not good for 2009, the rental market outlook in the south Bucks area of England still is good.

Philip Suter is a Director of JML Property Services, http://www.jmlproperty.co.uk a UK based company offering property rentals in Berkshire and Buckinghamshire, England and a self catering vacation home advertising service - http://www.jmlvillas.com and management training within the uk. He is a very experienced property consultant with over 30 years work in the Residential letting business and served in the national council of The Association of Residential Letting Agents (ARLA). He is a Fellow of the National Association of Estate Agents (NAEA) and a Member of The association of Residential Letting Agents

This article was located at the jml Property website until August 2017

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