I had an interesting chat with a Taplow
homeowner after he popped into our offices for a coffee whilst his wife was
doing some last minute Christmas shopping (that reminds me, I must start thinking
about mine!). We got taking about the Taplow housing market and I thought other
Taplow homeowners and Taplow landlords might be interested in what we discussed.
You see, property values didn’t stop dropping
in Taplow until January 2010, so after a strong run over the last 6 years, the
ever upward drive of house price rises has started to turn, with increases in
property prices now easing in Taplow. Taplow property values last month
increased by 0.6%, yet the month before they dropped by 0.1%. Now part of this
can be attributed to the time of year (last year property values in Taplow dropped
by 0.1% in October but recovered by 0.6% a month later), but it is obvious as with
ourselves and other property professionals in Maidenhead, we are wary about the
direction of the market as a result of the not as strong demand and fewer house
sales. However, to put a wider perspective on this, whilst Taplow prices were
rising by 12.1% year on year earlier in the Summer, they are still currently
rising at 8.7% year on year!
Interestingly, looking at the Land Registry
data, 88 properties have changed hands and sold in Taplow over the last 12
months, a drop from the preceding 12 months before that (2014), when 118
properties sold and 93 in the year before that (2013). The main indicators
suggest that buyers will start to gain the upper hand. However, there are many
homeowners who don’t need to sell and won’t bother unless it’s economically
beneficial to do so, but most homeowners are homebuyers, so what they lose with
one they gain with another.
For Taplow landlords, things are looking
good, especially for those looking to buy rental property with the changes in
stamp duty in 2014 and earlier in 2015 the new rules regarding pensions, where
you will be able to take money out of your pension pot to invest in property.
However, at the same time, I would say don’t just buy any old property in Taplow.
First time landlords need to be cautious. The doubling of house prices every
seven to ten years which has taken place since WW2 doesn’t seem to have been
seen since the mid 2000’s. The property market is shifting with more properties
being built and restrictions put on mortgage lending, the likelihood of the property
market increasing at the same levels as the past are questionable.
For more thoughts and articles like this on
the Taplow Property market, please visit the Taplow Property Blog
