As strong demand from foreign investors pushes London property prices higher, even those investors with a healthy amount of capital are locked out of making a purchase. Experienced investors are now looking elsewhere to capitalize on the current market and, according to Platinum Portfolio Builder, the North of England is now gaining greater interest.
Nick Carlile, who is founding partner of Platinum Portfolio Builder and has worked in the property construction and investment industry in and around Yorkshire since the age of 16, believes that renewed faith in the market has sparked a surge of interest. He said: “Even though a 25% deposit is still required, this is more achievable on a £100k property in the North than on say, a £250,000+ property in the South, where prices are still considerably higher.”
According to Carlile, experienced investors are recognising that stagnant house prices and high demand for rental properties from those who can’t afford to make a purchase, are making investments more accessible with greater security of a good return.
“The North, versus the South, offers much greater opportunity to buy more than one property, building a portfolio over a faster period of time. If managed correctly, it has the potential to return much higher returns than in the South where yields are often half what is achieved in the North (average gross yield of 8.9% achieved by PPB in the last 12 months).”
Nick added: “Having made many such investments myself in Yorkshire, I believe investing in property here has many opportunities. Of course, there are thousands of micro-markets in the UK and this is just one, but successful property investing is about understanding these micro markets.”
