Hello Ashford property investors,

Ashford property prices are up by just under 6% year on year and currently sit at £314,726; up from £194,794 in August 2001. This kind of growth is remarkable, however the problem that comes with such rapid increases in house price is that properties can become unaffordable when considering the average UK salary of £31,461.

What does this mean? Well if we consider how you can generally get a mortgage for 4-4.5 times your salary and the average deposit being 15%, Ashford homeowners need to be earning £59,448.24 to be considered as fitting the affordability to get a mortgage.

Now, that’s a lot… but how does it compare to prices a decade ago? The average salary in 2011 was £26,095 and with property prices sitting at £194,754, the difference was just 50%, with a salary of £36,786.86 needed.

However… let’s go back another 10 years to 2001 where the average salary was £19,722. Considering Ashford house prices averaged £112,664, with a 15% deposit the earnings level needed to be £21,280 to afford a property at 4.5 times your salary.

One final point to consider is the deposit required to purchase a property. At current house prices, a 15% deposit is £47,208 and in 2011 it was £29,213, however in 2001 it was around a third of what you need today at £16,899.

Given these statistics, it’s no surprise that the number of people renting has doubled in the past 20 years and by the end of this year, that is predicted to be 25%! With Ashford having 47,787 households, this crudely puts the number of rental properties at 11,946.

That’s a huge number and something that I absolutely suspect will continue to go only one way as time passes by!

So, what does this mean for property investors? Well, it certainly means that the rental market is growing.

Ultimately, people need somewhere to live, and I am a firm believer at how the problem of rising house prices is not down to the individual investor that has a couple of properties but in a large way caused by a lack of new housing being built (and that housing actually being affordable!).

I certainly can see that there may even be a future where renting could overtake home ownership and with this will undoubtedly come more regulation (such as the regulation of property agents) and other changes such as that to make the private rented sector achieve higher standards in terms of being green.

But, what I do know is that it’s a great time to be an investor! If you are considering an Ashford property investment, remember that I am here to answer any questions you may have! The best way to reach out to me is via LinkedIn.

Hasan